"China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001 was hailed as the natural conclusion of a long march that started with the reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping in the 1970s. However, China's participation in the WTO since joining has been anything but smooth, and its self-proclaimed "socialist market economy" system has alienated many of its global trading partners - as recent tensions with the United States exemplify. Prevailing diplomatic attitudes tend to focus on two diametrically opposing approaches to dealing with the emerging problems: the first is to demand that China completely overhaul its economic regime; the second is to stay idle and accept that the WTO must accommodate different economic regimes, no matter how idiosyncratic and incompatible. In this book, Mavroidis and Sapir propose a third approach. They point out that, while the WTO (as well as its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade [GATT]) has previously managed the accession of socialist countries or of big trading nations, it has never before dealt with a country as large or as powerful as China. Therefore, in order to simultaneously uphold its core principles and accommodate China's unique geopolitical position, the authors argue that the WTO needs to translate some of its implicit legal understanding into explicit treaty language. Focusing on two core complaints - that Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) benefit from unfair trade advantages, and that domestic companies (both private as well as SOEs) impose forced technology transfer on foreign companies as a condition for accessing the Chinese market - they lay out their specific proposals for successful legislative amendment"--.

This book discusses the most recent developments in the WTO regime. Issues such as E-commerce, security exception clause, China's compliance with the WTO obligations, sustainability development, IP protection in FTZs, trade controls and etc., are at the forefront of WTO studies. These issues strongly influence people's understanding of the current role of WTO and provides possible way to revitalize the function of WTO. Meanwhile, as the world's second largest economy, the world's largest trading nation and the holder of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves, China is apparently a powerful figure in leading these issues. Therefore, this book explores extensively these issues from a Chinese perspective to see what China could do to reboost the world trade.

China's accession to the WTO requires a great many specific policy reforms. However, if the best results are to be obtained, it is important that these reforms be implemented as part of a consistent development program, rather than simply by treating them as a recipe. To do this, policy makers must understand the range and nature of the policy changes required by accession, their implications for the economy, and the availability and effects of supporting policies. 'China and the WTO' analyzes the nature of the reforms involved in China's accession to the WTO, assesses their implications for the world economy, and examines the implications for individual households, particularly the poor. Its key objective is to provide the information that will allow policy makers to implement WTO commitments and formulate supporting policies to contribute strongly to economic development and poverty reduction. Individual chapters by leading scholars analyze the nature of the reforms in key areas, such as agriculture, services, intellectual property and safeguards and anti-dumping. These chapters form the building blocks for later chapters which analyze the implications of reform for the economy. The book also includes a series of studies that assess the implications for households, taking into account the social safety net policies applying in China, and the impacts of complementary policies in areas such as labor market reform and investments in human capital. Of interest to policymakers, academe and students studying international trade issues and to practitioners in the area of trade and development, 'China and the WTO' is a valuable addition to the wealth of information provided by the World Bank Trade and Development Series.

This work analyses the implications for world trade of China's entry into the World Trade Organization. It has taken fifteen long years of dialogue and heated debate and it will take its place among the other members at the end of 2001. This momentous event is relayed by the next WTO Chairman.

China, the EU and the U.S. are the world's largest traders, and many of the tensions in the trading system arise in the relations among them. Our premise is that reforming WTO is a necessary condition for the organization to be a more salient forum for the three large economies to address trade tensions, and that agreement among these three trade powers in turn is necessary to resolve the problems of the WTO. After a brief discussion of the global challenges that ought to be on the WTO agenda and of the systemic context, we discuss both how China understands WTO reform, and how the other two leading powers see the China problem in the WTO. We consider how the three see transparency, plurilateral negotiations, economic development differences, fisheries and industrial subsidies, WTO working practices, and dispute settlement. We conclude by considering the implications of our analysis for fostering cooperation between the three major trade powers in the WTO.

The publication provides historical and up-to-date insights into how reform can be transformational and progressive in nature and broadens the debate by focusing not only on new pathways for decision-making but also on important issues such as the environment and the SDGs. Finally, it highlights the importance of keeping the multilateral trading system alive for the benefit of all states, particularly for small states, Least Developed Countries and sub-Saharan African countries. WTO Reform: Reshaping Global Trade Governance for 21st Century Challenges, is designed to serve as a valuable resource for government officials, trade negotiators, journalists, academics and researchers who are attempting to sort through the complexities of the organisation and the role they can play in supporting a fairer, more inclusive WTO and multilateral trading system.