China's International Roles: Challenging or Supporting International Order? by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138903814
Google: Tyi0rQEACAAJ
Goodreads: 23650525
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

China’s emerging pro-active role in the WTO: from a passive to a more pro-active role in GEG

In the eyes of Chinese observers, China entered the system of global economic governance as a recipient of the existing order, a role taker. Joining the WTO in 2001, China started out as a passive member facing the challenges of adapting its national governance to the externally defined norms and rules. The WTO thus provided an arena for “learning and socialization” (Li, X. 2012: 75) for the Chinese leadership and its foreign economic policy elite. Persistent domestic calls on the Chinese leadership to preserve the WTO and support the successful conclusion of the Doha Trade Round underscore this evolution of China’s role. Some compare the effect of China becoming a full member with key events of contemporary Chinese history like the fundamental decision of reforming and opening up, the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics, or joining efforts to deal with the global financial crisis of 2008 (Su 2011: 37).

The World Trade Organization formally admitted the PRC on December 11, 2001. “[F]ollowing fifteen years of difficult negotiations, [it] was a watershed event both for the WTO and its members and for China” (Gong 2014). Negotiations were so long and tough that in the famous words of Zhu Rongji, they turned the black hair of those involved white. For the Chinese leadership, acceding to the WTO constituted a “great event, [it] showed that China’s opening-up entered into a new historical period” (Hu 2011: 2). This step followed the logic of domestic reforms, with China passing significant new rules and laws to prepare for membership (Fewsmith 2001).

The Republic of China had been a founding member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1948, but it took the PRC until the 1980s to apply for membership. In 1985, experts from a Shanghai research institute proposed resuming GATT negotiations (Gong 2014). Once negotiations got underway, China gradually came under a strong multilateral influence. As trade was and continues to be of utmost importance for China, and as trade is highly institutionalized under the GATT and the WTO, “China underwent a demanding application process and concomitant learning process that has sharply affected how it behaves in the WTO” (Scott and Wilkinson 2012: 23).

When negotiations with the US and the European Union finally reached the stage of finalization in the late 1990s, the issue of concessions was heavily disputed among the Chinese leadership. More than “7000 tariffs, quotas and other trade barriers” would have to be lifted or relaxed (The Economist 2011a). Joining the WTO as a developing nation allowed China to selectively implement WTO requirements and to use substantial phasing-in periods for certain liberalizations.

Before seeking an active role on global economic governance, the Chinese government sought to create the necessary domestic preconditions. In this regard, the first years of China’s membership (2001–2008) were characterized as “low profile” (Scott and Wilkinson 2012: 25). In this period, foreign expectations regarding China’s role in the WTO were dominated by socialization and convergence.

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