Review Of The 20 Years Since China'S Accession To The World Trade Organization (WTO)

Twenty years ago, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). For China and the world, this is a major event to promote the win-win situation between China and the world.

Over the past 20 years, there have been many doubts and even doubts about China's accession to the WTO. Among them, "what will China bring about after China's accession to the WTO?" "What does China's accession to the WTO bring to the world?" "Has China fulfilled its WTO commitments?" The three issues are the most representative. Now, looking back on China's actions and achievements, the answers to the three questions are very clear.

What does WTO bring to China

Before China's accession to the WTO, there were many concerns in China. Many people worry: will China's economy collapse in the fierce international competition? Will many industries with weak foundation become the world of foreign capital?

If you look at it today, these worries are all over the top. Not only has China's economy not collapsed, it has also stimulated strong vitality and created a great miracle in the process of opening up.

The data can directly reflect China's achievements in WTO entry: in the past 20 years, China's total economic volume has risen from the sixth to the second in the world, and the global share of GDP has increased from 4% in 2001 to 17% in 2020; The trade in goods rose from the sixth to the first in the world, and the trade in services rose from the 11th to the 2nd in the world; The scale of foreign direct investment in China has increased by 6.1% annually, ranking first among developing countries for 29 consecutive years; In 2002, there were only 11 Chinese enterprises in the global top 500, and now there are 143; China's foreign direct investment has risen from 26th in the world to No.1 in the world.

China's accession to the WTO not only promotes the substantial growth of China's economic volume, but also significantly improves the quality of China's economy. Liu Yuanchun, vice president of Renmin University of China, pointed out that China's accession to the WTO has not only brought China into the international division of labor system, but also helped restructure China's economy and enhance its development stability.

"The average growth rate of China's economy in the two decades before and after China's accession to the WTO is roughly the same. However, after China's accession to the WTO, both the inflation rate and the fluctuation of economic growth rate have decreased significantly, and China's economy has become more stable." Liu Yuanchun said.

At the same time, China has promoted reform through opening up and accelerated institutional opening-up. State owned enterprises, private enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises have flourished in China's market, forming a strong driving force for the development of export-oriented economy.

Huo Jianguo, vice president of the Research Association of China's World Trade Organization, believes that after China's accession to the WTO, China's export-oriented economy has made great progress, and its general trade and independent manufacturing capacity have been continuously improved and scale competitive advantages have been formed, which has greatly promoted China's industrialization process and established its position as a global manufacturing center.

In addition, after China's accession to the WTO, the degree of integration between China and the world has been greatly deepened, and China has gradually changed from a learner and a follower of international economic and trade rules to an applicator and influencer of international economic and trade rules, thus improving its ability to master and control international economic and trade rules. In this process, more and more Chinese enterprises have learned to apply WTO rules to defend their rights and interests and lay a good foundation for them to participate in the development of global markets.

What does China's entry into WTO bring to the world

In recent years, some western countries claim that the benefits gained by China's accession to the WTO do not match their contributions, and even blame the unemployment and low-income problems of domestic workers on "robbing their jobs" after China's accession to the WTO.

Zhang Xiangchen, deputy director general of the world trade organization, believes that such accusations are groundless, "Any country's accession to the WTO will be impacted to a certain extent, but you can't compare the damaged sectors with China's beneficiary sectors and say that they have suffered losses. What's more, what's the benefit sector of your country? What's more, the root cause of these countries' domestic economic problems lies in themselves, not in other countries.".

Zhang Xiangchen said that after China's accession to the WTO, China has made important contributions to promoting global sustainable development. With the sustained development of China's economy, China's annual average contribution rate to global economic growth has been close to 30% for many consecutive years. It is the largest trading partner of 120 countries and regions and has become an important engine of world economic growth.

China's contribution to the world economy is reflected in all countries in the world. After China's accession to the WTO, the world has benefited greatly from its opening up of the market. In 2001, China was only the 11th largest export destination of the United States, accounting for less than 2% of the total exports of the United States. In 2020, U.S. exports to China will increase to 9% of its total exports, and China will become the third largest export market of the United States.

Developing countries have also benefited greatly from their economic and trade exchanges with China. Take South Africa as an example. In 2001, China's export market in South Africa ranked only 17th. Today, China has become South Africa's largest export destination, accounting for 11% of South Africa's total exports from 1.7%.

In addition, China is one of the only major developing countries in the WTO, and has promised to implement zero tariff treatment on 97% of the exports of the least developed countries. Since 2008, China has been a major export destination for the least developed countries, absorbing more than a quarter of their exports.

China's contribution is also reflected in the maintenance of WTO and multilateral trade mechanism. After China's accession to the WTO, China has gradually become an important member playing an active role in construction. Under the impact of protectionism on the global multilateral trade system, China, together with other members, has done a lot of important work, playing a constructive role in consolidating the basic position of WTO in the global trade system.

"China, together with other WTO members, has studied and designed a provisional arbitration mechanism called MPIA (multi-party interim appeal arbitration arrangement) in accordance with the arbitration provisions of the WTO dispute settlement agreement, inheriting many advantages of the appellate body. The mechanism has won the support of many members and has worked well," Zhang Xiangchen said

Has China fulfilled its WTO commitments

Some voices question that China has not fulfilled its commitment to opening up when it entered the WTO. As a matter of fact, compared with China's WTO accession obligations and timetable stipulated in such documents as the WTO Accession Protocol, it can be seen that China has already fully fulfilled its obligations under the WTO, and its commitment to opening up has also been fully fulfilled.

For example, after China's accession to the WTO, in order to make laws, regulations and policies conform to the WTO rules, the central government has cleaned up more than 2000 regulations and departmental rules, and the number of local policies and regulations cleared by local governments is more than 190000. China will not only clean up or revise the original laws and policies to conform to the WTO rules, but also ensure that the new policies, laws and regulations are consistent with the WTO rules when formulating new policies, laws and regulations.

In terms of opening up the market, China's total import tariff level has been reduced to 7.4%, lower than 9.8% of the WTO commitments, lower than that of all developing members and close to the level of developed members. The service sector has opened up 120 sub sectors, which is far higher than the 100 specified by WTO entry.

Li Chenggang, Chinese ambassador to the WTO, said that in order to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, China has set up intellectual property courts in Beijing and other places, as well as intellectual property courts in many provinces and cities. In terms of transparency, China has timely informed the WTO of the adjustment and implementation of domestic laws and regulations, and more than 1000 notifications have been submitted. In addition, even if China has different opinions, it has carried out enforcement of the rulings on specific cases made before the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.

The opening of the securities industry shows the firm commitment of China. Yi Xiaozhun, former deputy director general of WTO, once participated in the long negotiation of China's accession to the WTO for 15 years. He recalled: "The end of China's WTO accession negotiations coincided with the Asian financial crisis. We are very vigilant about whether the opening up of the financial system will lead to systemic risks. According to the results of the negotiations, the securities industry promised to set up joint ventures, but the ratio of foreign shares should not exceed 33%. However, with the continuous development and improvement of China's securities market, China has continuously expanded the level of opening up the securities industry and the upper limit of the ratio of foreign shares Continue to improve until it's completely cancelled. "

Huo Jianguo said that in order to meet the requirements of the WTO, China's relevant reform measures began long before China's formal accession to the WTO. In 1986, China formally submitted an application for the resumption of GATT to the predecessor of the WTO, GATT. Since then, China has been negotiating and reforming. From 1992 to 1999, China has carried out four independent tax reductions and vigorously reformed the foreign trade management system. With the promotion of a series of market-oriented reforms, China has basically met the principle requirements of GATT in its economic management system. In 1995, GATT was extended and upgraded to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Then China entered into the negotiation of joining the WTO and finally became the 143rd member of WTO.

Several WTO directors general and most WTO members have fully affirmed and generally recognized China's fulfillment of its WTO commitments. Many opening-up initiatives have exceeded the expectations of the international community.

"After the negotiation, the members of the US delegation told me that not many of us believe that you can fulfill 100% of your commitments. If you fulfill 80% of your commitments, it will be good enough for the world. But today, we can see that China has fulfilled 100% of its commitments."