Photo: Xinhua

 

Graphics: GT

 

Graphics: GT

Increasingly, hopes for the survival of the WTO, the cornerstone of the global multilateral trading system, rest with China's role in the 24-year-old trade organization, Chinese experts said on the eve of a crucial day in the history of the world trade watchdog.

Wednesday marks the 18th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO. Yet, it coincides with a life-or-death moment for the Appellate Body, the top body of the organization.

In the initial years after its WTO accession in December 2001, China gradually acquainted itself with WTO rules and aligned itself with the global trading system, said Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.

The nation's integration into the WTO system then prompted the Chinese economy to launch an array of domestic reforms, leading to marked progress that in some aspects put the economy in a position of global trade leadership, Gao told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Over the years, China has continued efforts to lower tariffs. In another round of tariff cuts effective on January 1, 2019, the nation decided to reduce import taxes on more than 700 items.

Deregulation efforts have been non-stop. In late November, the nation unveiled a shortened version of its negative list, which shrank by 20 items from the 2018 version to 131 entries at present. The negative list indicates areas where investment is limited or banned. China has now become a prominent advocate for reforms of the organization, Gao stressed, noting that the push for WTO reforms under the current framework is quite difficult as it necessitates consensus from the organization's 164 members. 

Leadership role 

With the US continuing efforts to chip away at the organization, the foundation of global multilateral trade, China is increasingly in focus. The rest of the world is hoping that China will take the role of leadership to ensure the WTO is still up and running, Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

As the locomotive of global economic growth, China has seen its contribution to the world's GDP expansion average close to 30 percent since 2002.

The WTO is still seen as the mainstay of the global multilateral trading system, Tu commented, downplaying concerns that a variety of regional trade pacts might erode the importance and role of the WTO.

While big bets have been placed on China's increasing impact in the organization to fend off crippling moves by the US, it is not the case that China intends to replace the US' role in the WTO, observers said.

"China has no ambition to actively substitute for the US in the global trading system and it's unnecessary for China to do so," Gao noted.
Newspaper headline: World looks to China