China and the World Trade Organization

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Why did China’s leaders place so much importance on the accession to WTO? The most widely cited reason for China’s push to join is to keep the process of reform going. In many ways, the WTO membership was the best way for China to hold economic growth. The world economy has become much more complex and interdependent, and China's participation - based on the rules of international trade - was essential for China and for the rest of the world. As a WTO member, China would be able to participate in the formulation of rules governing international trade and investment. At the same time, China would be able to protect its trade interests using the existing WTO dispute settlement system. Chinese exporters will benefit from the fact that their trading partners must comply with WTO rules. This means, for example, that WTO members will not be able to take on discriminatory measures against Chinese goods. Another factor was a result of watching the technological revolution of the 1990s. Chinese leaders wanted China to participate in these developments, and this would be much easier if China was seen as a satisfying economic partner. Cooperation with WTO would also include protection of intellectual property (Prime, 2002). WTO membership is also expected to attract more foreign investment, some of which would bring desired new technology or help enhance China’s own capabilities for technological development. The fact that China joined the Information Technology Agreement, which phases out all tariffs on information technology products by 2005, gives credence to this as one factor supporting membership (Prime, 2002). China’s exports have increased substantially throughout the reform period, helping China earn foreign exchange for needed... ... middle of paper ... ... issues. Finally, China wanted to make sure that Taiwan did not join first so that China would have a say in that economy’s status in the organization (Prime 2002). Overall, China's participation in the WTO would promote the reform process, stimulate the expansion of foreign investment in Chinese economy, make a positive impact on the development of the service sector, so China would become a rule setter in the global trading community. Speaking at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Qatar, head of Chinese delegation Shi Guangsheng said that participation in the multilateral trading system is currently the only possibility to derive maximum benefit from the developing world in the process of economic globalization. Works Cited Prime, P. (2002), “China and WTO: How, Why and What Now?”, Business Economics, Vol.37, April. Retrieved from http://www.chinacenter.net/

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