The Past And Present Of China And WTO

In July 22nd, Shanghai.

I. achievements and functions of the World Trade Organization

WTO, founded in 1995, is the successor of the general agreement on Tariffs and trade (GATT) established after the Second World War.

The multilateral trading system has gone through many trials and hardships for more than 60 years, withstood all kinds of tests and achieved remarkable achievements. First, the establishment of a unified multilateral trading system and a tendency to curb unilateralism. Two, WTO became the "engine" of the world economy. Over the past half century, the total volume of Global trade has increased by 30 times, and the global average tariff level has decreased from the initial 40% to the current 4%.

Three, in the financial crisis, WTO fully played the role of supervision and restraint, launched the "trade measures supervision mechanism" in a timely manner, issued reports regularly, followed the economic stimulus measures of various countries, and played a mainstay role in resisting trade protectionism.

The four is to continuously strengthen the scope and intensity of WTO multilateral trade rules, and more and more activities involving trade are standardized.

So far, WTO has launched the nine round of multilateral trade negotiations. For the first time, the ongoing Doha Round negotiations will focus on development and will further expand trade liberalization.

The five is to continuously improve the representativeness of the multilateral trading system. The membership has increased seven times from the initial 23 development to the 153 today.

The six is to effectively resolve trade disputes and escort trade liberalization.

In the post financial crisis era, WTO is expected to constantly improve its rules, strengthen its functions, enhance its influence on other international coordination mechanisms, and assume higher responsibilities and play a greater role in global economic governance.

Two, China earnestly fulfil its commitments to join the WTO.

After 15 years of arduous negotiations, China finally became a full member of the World Trade Organization in 2001. This is a historic event in the process of China's reform and opening up.

In the past nine years since China's entry into the WTO, China has persisted in its reform and opening up to the outside world, actively seized the historical opportunities of economic globalization, made active use of the framework of the WTO multilateral trading system, and developed economic and trade relations with other countries in the world, and made great achievements in economic and social development, and economic indicators have made new breakthroughs every year.

From 1978 to 2008, China's economy grew by an average of 9.8% annually.

Since the outbreak of the international financial crisis, China has fully implemented and continuously enriched and improved the package plan and policy measures to deal with the impact of the international financial crisis. In 2009, China's economy grew by 8.7%, making its contribution to the regional and world economic recovery.

After joining the WTO for nine years,

In the past nine years since China's accession to the WTO, China has effectively fulfilled its commitments, earnestly exercised its rights and actively participated in various activities of WTO, and has played a constructive role.

As of 2010, all commitments to China's accession to the WTO have been fully fulfilled, and the economic and trade system that meets the requirements of rules has been established, making it one of the most open markets in the world.

In the field of goods trade, the tariff level was gradually reduced according to commitments, and the average tariff level dropped from 15.3% before joining to 9.8% in 2009. Among them, the average tariff of agricultural products was 15.2%, and the average tariff of industrial products was 8.9%.

China also abolished import tariff quotas and import licenses and other non-tariff measures in accordance with the promised timetable, and completely liberalized the right to operate foreign trade.

In the field of service trade, China has opened 100 of the more than 160 service trade sectors classified according to WTO rules, involving important services such as banking, insurance, telecommunications, distribution, accounting, education and so on, providing a broad market access for foreign service providers.

In the field of intellectual property rights, China attaches great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights.

We have completed the revision of relevant laws and regulations to make it consistent with the WTO's agreement on trade related aspects of intellectual property rights and other international rules for the protection of intellectual property rights, constantly increase the protection of intellectual property rights, and enhance the awareness of intellectual property protection in the whole society.

China has established a legal system that meets the requirements of the WTO, has cleared more than 3000 laws, regulations and regulations, and has made a comprehensive adjustment to the trade system and policies, so that China's foreign trade and economic cooperation system is in line with WTO's rules and our commitments. China's trade system and environment are more stable and predictable.

In this financial crisis, China, as a trading power, has taken measures to focus on expanding domestic demand and actively responded to the crisis. On the other hand, it has continued to keep the market open, and has taken action against all forms of protectionism and has not taken any protectionist measures.

In 2009, China's imports increased by 2.8%. It is the only country that has a positive import growth in the major economies. It supports a lot of countries that are troubled by the crisis, and creates employment, which has made an important contribution to the global economic recovery.

Three, China actively promotes Doha negotiations and fully participates in WTO activities.

The Doha round is the ninth round of multilateral trade negotiations initiated by WTO. It is the first round of negotiations involving the widest and most participants. Its success will help create a more open and equitable international trade environment and promote world economic recovery and sustainable growth.

China has always been actively promoting the Doha negotiations and working closely with all members of the WTO to promote a fair and balanced outcome and achieve development goals.

China has actively participated in the negotiations and consultations of ministers and senior officials of the world trade organization, and held the WTO small Ministerial Conference of Dalian in 2005. It played a bridge role in the sixth WTO Ministerial Conference held in Hongkong in December of the same year.

At a small ministerial meeting in July 2008, China was invited to participate in the seven Party (G7) ministerial consultations for the first time, and entered the core decision-making circle of multilateral trade negotiations for the first time.

China embarks from the overall situation, efforts to bridge differences, and never give up efforts to promote negotiations and reach consensus.

Despite the eventual breakdown of the negotiations, China's role is obvious.

In 2009, negotiations were launched to break the deadlock.

China promptly put forward the three principles of negotiating "respecting authorization, locking results and multilateral negotiations", which has been recognized and supported by most members and embodied in the declaration of the group of twenty summit.

At the seventh WTO ministerial conference at the end of 2009, China called for the improvement and strengthening of the multilateral trading system, represented by the world trade organization, and to promote the members to send a positive signal to the world "open, forward, and reform".

China has fully participated in the negotiations in various fields, submitted more than 100 proposals, made substantial contributions to the negotiations at the technical level, and made substantial tariff reduction commitments. According to the results of the current negotiations, China's tariffs on agricultural and industrial products will be reduced by about 30%. China's service sector has also made some new open commitments.

In terms of trade policy review, China joined the WTO in the past nine years, and accepted the three trade policy deliberations of WTO in 2006, 2008 and 2010 respectively, and answered nearly 3700 questions raised by 60 members.

Through deliberation, it shows China's firm and open economic and trade policy and its responsibility in the multilateral power system.

In terms of development, China has responded positively to the WTO's "Trade Aid" initiative, and has made numerous contributions to the global trust fund for the Doha development agenda under the framework of the trade assistance framework to help other developing members, especially the least developed members, to fully benefit from the multilateral trading system and to better integrate into the world economy.

China has always adhered to the WTO rules and entered into the WTO commitments and actively resolved the trade disputes with members through the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.

According to the statistics, since China's accession to the WTO, 7 cases have been prosecuted and 8 cases have been prosecuted.

China is willing to work with other WTO members to safeguard the seriousness and authority of the multilateral trading system.

China has also actively supported the construction of the WTO mechanism, and has recommended to the WTO the candidates of the appellate body and the chairmen of the relevant committees. It has supported the WTO capacity-building activities, contributed many times to the aid for trade promotion, supported the ability of the least developed countries to participate in the multilateral trading system, and provided officials training for Vietnam, Laos, Belarus and other countries that are joining WTO.

The process of joining the WTO for nine years once again proves that the decision to join the WTO is consistent with China's national conditions and is a forward-looking and historic decision.

China has effectively utilized the multilateral arena of WTO, seized the historical opportunity of economic globalization, and has become a model for developing countries to actively integrate into the globalization process.

China is responsible for its commitment to fulfill its commitments and actively contributes to the strengthening of the multilateral trading system. It has not only injected great vitality into its own economic and social development, but also won wide recognition and appreciation from WTO members and the international community.

China has always been a staunch supporter of the multilateral trading system and has always been a mainstay of the principle of free trade and has always been an active promoter of the Doha Round negotiations.

China will continue to adhere to the basic principles of "mutual benefit and win-win", work together with other members, oppose all forms of protectionism, and continuously push forward the multilateral trading system in a more democratic, more efficient and more equitable and balanced way.

(Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce)