What Does China's Joining the WTO Actually Imply with Regard to China's Long-term Interests?

For the last decade or so, China has been dealing with the question of its joining the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO) in the same way that it has dealt with the issues of reform and opening up the country to the outside worldâin other words, consistently and with a great deal of enthusiasm, even passion. Furthermore, from many people's perspective joining the WTO may have become equated with opening up the country itselfâand not joining the WTO would then be equated with closing the door and keeping to ourselves. In line with the Western media's increased propaganda about the tide of globalization and its benefits to everybody, the mood on the part of the people in our own country with regard to supporting China's entrance into WTO has become, it seems, increasingly urgent, as if this is an inevitable option that is in conformity with the trend of history. Even though business circles may feel some anxiety, such concerns seem easily replaced by an even stronger feeling of urgency. This is because from the perspective of business people, entering the WTO is not something that can be avoided. Even if some enterprises are hurt, such damage must be endured, like any birth pang. It can be said that the primary reason that China was unable to join the WTO previously was that the United States was just too harsh in its conditionsâand, in fact, kept raising the stakes by asking for more and more concessions from us, pushing us to the wall every step of the way, and making it really difficult for us to offer a decent account of our [desire to join]. As for what joining the WTO would actually bring China, people tended to simply assume that joining the WTO is already a set orientation, and therefore they do not fully examine the enormous potential risk inherent in it.