British American Tobacco's tactics during China's accession to the World Trade Organization
British American Tobacco's tactics during China's accession to the World Trade Organization
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DOI：
10.1136/tc.2006.018374
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发表时间：
2007-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.2
通讯作者：
Yano, Eiji
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Zhong, Fei;Yano, Eiji
背景资料：中国经过多年谈判，于2001年加入世界贸易组织。作为世贸组织成员，中国不得不降低进口卷烟关税，取消非关税壁垒，让外国卷烟在中国市场更具竞争力。在外国烟草公司中，英美烟草公司(BAT)是中国入世谈判中最活跃的说客。目的：回顾和分析英美烟草公司与中国入世有关的策略和活动。方法：查阅烟草行业内部文件，并在此进行专题报道。行业文件主要在英美烟草公司吉尔福德储存库的网站和其他文件的网站上进行搜索。结果：在中国入世的过程中，BAT非常活跃。该公司将游说努力集中在谈判中的两个主要参与者：欧盟(EU)和美国。由于与烟草有关的负面道德和健康问题，英美烟草公司没有寻求与世贸组织谈判有关的官员的公开支持。取而代之的是，英美烟草的游说者建议官员们保护英美烟草的利益，将该公司的需求描述为与所有欧洲公司的需求相似。在谈判过程中，英美烟草公司官员多次表示支持中国加入世贸组织，目的是让英美烟草公司成为这一进程的推动者，并获得中国竞争对手的优惠待遇。结论：英美烟草公司的活动清楚地表明，烟草公司将自身利益置于公共健康利益之上。今天，中国正在与烟草控制问题作斗争，跨国烟草公司咄咄逼人的做法、烟草关税的降低以及庞大的吸烟者数量加剧了这些问题。为了让控烟运动在中国取得进展，健康倡导者必须了解外国烟草公司是如何利用贸易自由化政策来破坏反烟草活动的。中国应重视公共卫生和综合控烟政策，以国际贸易协定为支撑，保障国家和国际烟草利益的有力保护措施。
Background: China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 after years of negotiations. As a WTO member, China had to reduce tariffs on imported cigarettes and remove non-tariff barriers to allow foreign cigarettes to be more competitive in the Chinese market. Among foreign tobacco companies, British American Tobacco (BAT) was the most active lobbyist during China's WTO negotiations.Objective: To review and analyse BAT's tactics and activities relating to China's entry into the WTO.Methods: Internal tobacco industry documents were reviewed and are featured here. Industry documents were searched mainly on the website of BAT's Guildford Depository and other documents' websites. 528 documents were evaluated and 142 were determined to be relevant to China's entry into the WTO.Results: BAT was extremely active during the progress of China's entry into the WTO. The company focused its lobbying efforts on two main players in the negotiations: the European Union (EU) and the US. Because of the negative moral and health issues related to tobacco, BAT did not seek public support from officials associated with the WTO negotiations. Instead, BAT lobbyists suggested that officials protect the interests of BAT by presenting the company's needs as similar to those of all European companies. During the negotiation process, BAT officials repeatedly spoke favourably of China's accession into the WTO, with the aim of presenting BAT as a facilitator in this process and of gaining preferential treatment from their Chinese competitor.Conclusions: BAT's activities clearly suggest that tobacco companies place their own interests above public health interests. Today, China struggles with issues of tobacco control that are aggravated by the aggressive practices of transnational tobacco companies, tobacco-tariff reductions and the huge number of smokers. For the tobacco-control movement to progress in China, health advocates must understand how foreign tobacco companies have undermined anti-tobacco activities by taking advantage of trade liberalisation policies. China should attach importance to public health and comprehensive tobacco-control policies and guarantee strong protection measures from national and international tobacco interests supported by international trade agreements.