WTO nations welcome China as a member

The Washington Post

DOHA, Qatar — China’s entry into the World Trade Organization won formal approval Saturday from the group’s 142 member countries, marking a new and potentially tumultuous phase in Beijing’s transition from socialism to capitalism.

The move caps a 15-year effort by the world’s most populous country to join the club that sets the rules for international commerce.

WTO membership confers a host of benefits on China, including ending its status as an outsider from the rules-based system governing global markets.

In practical terms, China will enjoy protection against the arbitrary imposition of barriers on its goods, such as the sanctions that human rights activists have advocated to punish Beijing for its treatment of dissidents. Under an agreement with the United States, Washington, D.C., will cease the annual review procedure in which Congress considers ending "normal trade relations" with China based on its human rights performance.

In return, China promises changes that will touch nearly every sector of the country’s economy, which is both the largest and fastest-growing in the developing world. Most of these pledges were contained in a deal struck with the Clinton administration, which saw it as both a means to increase U.S. exports to China’s vast market and a way of pushing Beijing further along a path toward openness, private enterprise and democratization.

Taiwan is scheduled to receive similar approval of its membership today. Although Taipei has been ready to join for a long time, its application was put on hold for diplomatic reasons pending the conclusion of negotiations with China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province.

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