WTO membership 'big plus for everyone?'

By Jiang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-06 09:10

"As the country adjusts its laws and regulations concerning the service market, overseas service providers have gained increased access to the Chinese market," Zhang said.

Over 100 service sectors, or 62.5 per cent of the total service industry, have been opened to international players. This percentage is close to the level of developed WTO members.

Finally, the country's enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection has improved following the adjustment of virtually all IPR-related laws and legal explanations to conform to international rules.

The WTO trade policy review also urged China to address some problems related to non-trade barriers and encouraged the country to accelerate its efforts in subsidy notifications.

However, Zhang acknowledged, trade protectionism is rising as economic globalization gathers pace.

As China's trade volume with the rest of the world continues to grow rapidly, the nation is becoming embroiled in more trade conflicts and has become the biggest victim of trade disputes China is involved in one out of every seven global dumping disputes.

"We expect China will continue to encounter trade disputes for a rather long period of time," Zhang said.

As the world's most populous nation marks the fifth anniversary of its entry into the global trade body, China is also poised to become an even bigger player in economic globalization.

For example, China has made numerous efforts to restart the WTO's stalled Doha round of talks in a bid to lower global trade barriers.


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