In November 1995, the Chinese government made a note to the WTO Director-General, Renato Ruggiero, that the Chinese GATT Restoration Working Group had changed its name to China's WTO Accession Working Group.

On November 15, 1999, China and the United States signed a bilateral agreement in Beijing concerning China's entry into the WTO. Several months later, on May 19, 2000, China signed another bilateral agreement concerning WTO entry, with representatives from the EU. 

In June 2001, the US and EU reached a comprehensive consensus with China on remaining issues during multilateral negotiations. 

On September 13, 2001, China and Mexico reached an agreement during their 18th bilateral negotiation regarding China's WTO entry. By this stage, China had concluded bilateral market access negotiations with all of the WTO members. 

On September 17, 2001, all legal documents concerning China's accession to the WTO were approved during the 18th meeting of the WTO China Working Group in Geneva, Switzerland, thus terminating China's 15-year-long entry negotiations.

On the afternoon of November 10, 2001, the fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, unanimously adopted China's decision to enter the WTO.

On December 11, 2001, China officially entered the WTO, becoming the 143rd member of the organization.