"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"--.

China's historic accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November 2001 not only represents an important milestone in the country’s transition to a market economy and integration into the global economy, but is also among the most important events in the history of the WTO and the multilateral trading system. China and Global Trade Governance: China's First Decade in the World Trade Organization provides us with some fresh empirical data to assess the country’s behaviour in the liberal international economic regime. Such an assessment is both timely and necessary as it can help us better understand China’s role in the evolving structure of global economic governance, in addition to shedding light on the broader debate about the implications of the rise of China for the international system. Through a thorough examination of China’s WTO compliance record and its experience in multilateral trade negotiations, this book seeks to better understand the sources of constraints on China’s behaviour in the multilateral trade institution as well as the country’s influence on the efficacy of the World Trade Organization. In doing so, this project speaks directly to the following questions raised by China’s unprecedented ascent in the international system: Is China a rule maker, rule follower, or rule breaker in international regimes? Is Beijing a responsible stakeholder capable of making positive contributions to global trade governance in the long-term?

As the number one destination for global foreign direct investment and the third largest trader in the world, China is too important to be ignored by any business that has a vision for the future. China's Participation in the WTO brings together the most insightful contributions from the International Conference on China's Participation in the WTO hosted by the East Asian International Economic Law and Policy Program (EAIEL) at The University of Hong Kong in February 2005. The work focuses on three general themes: taking stock of the progress China has made in implementing its WTO commitments, identifying the challenges facing China as a new Member in the WTO, and generating proposals on how China could participate in the WTO more effectively.

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.

In less than three decades, China has grown from playing a negligible role in international trade to being one of the world's largest exporters, a substantial importer of raw materials, intermediate outputs, and other goods, and both a recipient and source of foreign investment. Not surprisingly, China's economic dynamism has generated considerable attention and concern in the United States and beyond. While some analysts have warned of the potential pitfalls of China's rise—the loss of jobs, for example—others have highlighted the benefits of new market and investment opportunities for US firms. Bringing together an expert group of contributors, China's Growing Role in World Trade undertakes an empirical investigation of the effects of China's new status. The essays collected here provide detailed analyses of the microstructure of trade, the macroeconomic implications, sector-level issues, and foreign direct investment. This volume's careful examination of micro data in light of established economic theories clarifies a number of misconceptions, disproves some conventional wisdom, and documents data patterns that enhance our understanding of China's trade and what it may mean to the rest of the world.

China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been hailed as the biggest coming-out party in the history of capitalism. Its membership eventually will contribute to higher standards of living for its citizens and increased growth for its economy. But why would the Chinese communist regime voluntarily agree to comply with the many complex rules of the global trading system since it has already become the world's seventh largest trading country while avoiding these constraints by remaining outside the system? The answer to this question forms the basis for this new book. Nicholas Lardy explores the many pressures on the Chinese government, both external and internal, to comply with the standards of the rule-based international trading system. Lardy points out that, prior to entry into the WTO, China enjoyed high growth rates and more foreign direct investment than any other emerging economy. He draws on a wealth of scholarship and experience to explain how China's leadership expects to leverage the increased foreign competition inherent in its WTO commitments to accelerate its domestic economic reform program, leading to the shrinkage and transformation of inefficient, money-losing companies and hastening the development of a commercial credit culture in its banks. Lardy answers a number of other questions about China's new WTO membership, including its effects on bilateral trade with the United States; the possibility that China will use its power to reshape the WTO in the future; the degree to which the terms of China's entry were more or less demanding than those for other new members; the ability of China's economy to successfully open to new imports; and the prospects for new growth in various sectors of China's economy made possible by WTO accession. This book will become an important tool for those who wish to understand China's new role in the global trading system, to take advantage of the new opportunities for investment in China

With China's accession to the World Trade Organization imminent, this book brings together the expert views of scholars, policy-makers and business representatives on the consequences of this historic event. Insight into the past and future of China's relationship to the WTO is offered by authors involved on both sides of the negotiations on the EU-China bilateral agreement of May 2000 and the on-going negotiations up to spring 2001. An analyst and representatives from four economic sectors (the automobile industry, telecommunications, insurance and banking) clash over their predictions for the future. Also presented is an investigation of the challenges for China's political, social and legal systems, and revealing prognoses are given for the implications for global trade and investment flows for the EU and Greater China, and for the modus operandi of the WTO itself. By shedding light on economic effects and social and legal implications, the book gives a comprehensive picture of potential challenges arising from China's entry to the WTO.