Celebrating 10 years of China’s entry into WTO..

On 11 Dec 2011, China completed its 10 years of WTO entry. Pascal Lamy, chief of WTO was there to mark the moment.

His comments:

Director-General Pascal Lamy, in a speech at a forum in Beijing on 11 December 2011 commemorating the 10th anniversary of China’s accession to the WTO, said: “On this tenth anniversary, and as we look forward for the next decade, I have two wishes that I would like to express. The first is that China’s involvement in the WTO helps us all in keeping this organization on the move towards more open and fairer trade. The second is that the WTO’s relevance for China keeps growing and helps this country to address its reform challenges. China has been and should remain important for the WTO. The WTO has been and should remain important for China.” 

Amazing to note this change in perception. I recall reading research/articles that how WTO entry will actually harm China as its producers will have to follow the WTO rules etc. But actually China has taken this issue head on and had made inroads into so many economies. It actually gave China more markets. Moreover, growth in countries like Australia and many others depends on the health of China’s trade sector.

However, concerns have come mainly from China’s undervaluation strategy. Hence claims to bring exchange rates into WTO ambit..