第十五章世界贸易组织-第十五章世界贸易组织.docx

第十五章 世界贸易组织
一、 名词解释题
1、 世界贸易组织、关贸总协定、交叉报复

二、 简述题
1、 简述关贸总协定的作用。
2、 关贸总协定多边贸易谈判有何特点？
3、 乌拉圭回合谈判有何特点？
4、 简述《与贸易有关的投资措施协议》的主要内容。
5、 简述《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》中关于版权、商标和专利权的保护规定。
6、 简述世界贸易组织的主要特点。
7、 我国复关和加入世界贸易组织的主要原则是什么？

三、 论述题
1、 试述《服务贸易总协定》关于义务和原则的规定。
2、 联系实际论述中国加入世界贸易组织的重要意义。
3、 世界贸易组织新一轮多边谈判的重要议题和前景分析。

四、热点问题
HOW WTO to affect China-US relations
Opportunities and challenges
co-exist in bilateral trade
BY JAMES ZUWALT
First secretary of US Embassy to China

The United States warmly welcomes China’s imminent accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Scheduled to join officially in 2002, China will become one of the last major trading nations to join the WTO. And the message to the world will be clear: China is prepared to become a fully vested player in the global economy. WTO membership will generate tremendous benefits for China: spearheading further economic reform, attracting even higher levels of foreign investment, and fostering the rule of law.
At home, WTO membership will undoubtedly thrust significant responsibilities and challenges on the Chinese leadership and the Chinese people. Abroad, it will fundamentally enhance, if not redefine, China’s relations with other countries, especially with its most significant export market, the United States.
One thing is certain: The changes wrought by China’s WTO accession will reach far beyond just the trade-related aspects of the US-China relationship, engendering many benefits and mitigate the risks remains a subject of much debate among American and Chinese policy planners, business people, and consumers.

China needs the WTO
China’s explosive economic expansion over the past 20 years is a well-known success story. Fuelled by vigorous reform efforts, growth rates averaging nearly 10 per cent annually have created a vast array of new job and investment opportunities, making China ever more prosperous. The effect of China’s transformation from an inward-looking, planned economy to a more market-oriented, trading powerhouse has reverberated throughout the global economy, influencing everything from consumers’ choices to investment flows.
Rapid-fire growth has not been cost-free, however. In particular, it has cast a harsh light on some of the structural weaknesses of China’s economic system, in agriculture, finance, and state-owned enterprise reform. The dilemma for China has been, and will continues to be, how best to keep the dual momentum of economic growth and structural reform going.
In many respects, WTO membership is China’s best option for staying the course, for ensuring that neither the pace of economic growth nor of reform falters. As the world economy has become vastly more complex and interconnected, China’s participation in it , according to the rules of international trade , has become that much more critical not only for China, but for the United States, Asia, and the world.
As a WTO member, China will be able to participate in the formulation of rules that govern international trade and investment. Similarly, it will be able to defend its trade interests using the WTO dispute-settlement system. Chinese exporters will benefit from the certainty that their trading partners must obey WTO rules. This means, for example, that WTO members will not be able to discriminate against Chinese products in their home markets. WTO membership will make China even more attractive to foreign investors. And more money invested in China means more high-paying jobs, more government tax receipts, and more technology transfers.
WTO rules are designed to facilitate increased competition in every sector of the economy. Chinese consumers will be the direct beneficiaries, as competition encourages a large range of choices, lower prices, and higher quality, not to mention a greater awareness, and appreciation for, intellectual property rights and consumer rights. Global competition will foster gains in efficiency and productivity, which will strengthen China’s economy over time, and enhance the ability of Chinese firms to take on the best multinationals in any market , in any part of the world, China’s economy will benefit from the expanded range of services—insurance, finance, distribution—which foreign companies want to bring into China after its WTO accession. Competition in this area will in turn stimulate China’s home-grown services sector, giving companies and consumers an even broader range of choices.

China’s responsibilities
While China is poised to benefit greatly from WTO, it is important to keep in mind that WTO membership does not only convey certain rights, but also specific responsibilities. China laboured through 15 years of tough negotiations, particularly with the United States and the European Union, to achieve WTO membership. The time and effort involved stands as a testament to China’s determination to become a fully-integrated player in the rules-based global trading regime. Although the battle to achieve the victory of WTO accession was hard-fought, in many respects another equally worthwhile but difficult challenge confronts the nation. China is in the process of making enormous changes to meet its WTO obligations—restructuring industries, publishing previously internal laws and regulations, establishing formal procedures to adjudicate disputes, and levelling the playing field for foreign companies. It has agreed to slash tariffs and to eliminate import quotas, to dismantle export subsidies, and has promised to open service industries to foreign competition. Some of these changes will come immediately upon China’s accession; others will be phased in over a period of a few years.

WTO and US-China ties
How well China fulfils its obligations of WTO membership will have a direct bearing on the future direction of US-China relations. It is in the interests of both countries to avoid a scenario in which trade frictions are exacerbated by an inability or unwillingness to meet the many commitments China has made to join the WTO. That said, trade frictions between the US and China will not go away with WTO accession. If anything, they might increase, at least initially. That is only natural as the size and scope of our trade relationship grows. China already enjoys a burgeoning trade surplus with the US.
The US and other governments are playing a vital role in trying to avoid just such a scenario by offering China assistance in meeting its WTO obligations. Our Consulate General in Shanghai, for example, has worked with the US-China Business Council to put together a video-conferencing programme in which American trade-law experts speak to Chinese officials. Similarly, our Embassy in Beijing is working with Beijing University and a local distance-learning institution to provide on-line WTO training opportunities in communities throughout China.
The European Union has allocated approximately US$23 million to bring Chinese officials up to speed on WTO rules and concepts, including translations for use in domestic legislation.

WTO rules can protect China
China’s handling of trade disputes with Japan proves the country isn’t skilled enough in using rules and regulations of the world Trade Organization (WTO) to protect its own interests, said an article in the Japanese Studies Magazine.
The latest trade dispute was provoked by Japan in April when it slapped import curbs on shiitake mushrooms, spring onions and rushes tatami mats from China .In June, China imposed punitive tariffs on Japanese-made cars, mobile phones and air conditioners.
The dispute can be viewed as an early test of how China will meet challenges brought about by its pending WTO entry, the article said.
One problem exposed is China’s slow response to Japan’s action .The Japanese Government, in fact, started relevant investigations for possible import curbs in as early December. These investigations were conducted in an open manner.
Yet there was no Chinese response until March 27, when Japan announced its non-tariff protection measures and intensified its quarantine of imported farm produces.
Another problem demonstrated is China’s weakness in collecting information.
When the Japanese government began investigations on certain products and made relevant statistics, the Chinese government should have conducted their own investigations on the targeted products.
With the materials collected, China could have clarified misinformation published by Japan. Furthermore, the effect would have helped China work out efficient countermeasures.
Today’s trade wars, to a great extent, are information wars. A country can not convince the international community by talking abstract theories and must instead rely on concrete data to justify protective measures.
In the trade dispute, between China and Japan, Japan flooded the media with statistics. Chinese media also had to quote figures released by Japan while talking about China’s export of these three products.
There was no proof as to whether those figures are accurate.
WTO entry means both opportunities and challenges to China. But people are placing more expectations on gains than on necessary preparations to meet challenges, the article warned.
After it becomes a WTO member, China will encounter similar, unavoidable trade disputes with other countries. To gain an upper hand in handling disputes, it is a pressing task for China to become familiar with rules and regulations of WTO
Being blind to the game rules for the WTO will make China ill-prepared itself and lead it to unintentionally break laws, the article said.
While China has been out of the WTO, the nation has suffered discrimination. But fair treatment within the WTO depends on the skilled use of relevant rules and regulations.
Chinese enterprises also must become more responsible, the article urged
In the current China-Japan trade dispute, it was the Japanese non-governmental agricultural organizations that put forward the problem first. Japanese politicians later imposed pressure on the Japanese Government, which finally took the protective measures.
Chinese enterprises, still stuck in the shadows of the old planned economic system, have depended heavily on the government. This situation must be changed, the article said.
After joining the WTO, China must use both government and enterprises to assure international trading justice. The government is responsible for maintaining the stability of the domestic market and protecting infant industries must realize first that their sectors are threatened by similar products overseas or unfair treatment abroad.
If enterprises find foreign companies are dumping their products on the local market or resorting to unethical competitive means, they should report to the government so a probe can commence at once.
After entering the WTO, China must also diversify its exports to avoid reliance on exports of the same products to one or two particular countries. China could easily run afoul of WTO rules without meaning to do so. For example, if China’s export exceeds 3 per cent of a country’s total import of a certain product, the important country, in line with WTO rules, may curb the import of that Chinese products.
In some circumstances, even if its exports are curbed, the punished country has no right to take countermeasures within the first three years, the article said.
An old ailment afflicting China’s export is the price war among Chinese enterprises. To try to win foreign orders, enterprises vie with each other in cutting prices. As a result, they suffer great losses in profit.
At the same time, foreign producers may accuse Chinese producers of dumping their products.
Attention must be paid to this problem after China becomes a WTO member, the article said. It cannot be China’s response to every challenging market.
Finally, the government and non-governmental trade associations should play a more active role in providing information to enterprises.
It is difficult for any single enterprise to have a grasp of the kind of information a government or private agency can collect, but having this knowledge will help China immeasurably

WTO prompts better business environment
China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) will prompt the nation to revise its current laws and regulations and, subsequently, improve the environment for foreign trade and foreign investment, an article in Beijing Review said.
China has approved a series of obligations to open its social system. Chinese leaders have said many times that China will strictly abide by WTO rules and earnestly fulfill its pledges.
The six major obligations China is to bear following its WTO entry are as follows:
l China is to treat each WTO member equally. All individuals and organizations involved in foreign investment, including individuals and organizations that have never invested or registered in China, will enjoy at least the same treatment as Chinese enterprises regarding the rights of trade.
l China is to abolish the practice of double track pricing as well as different treatments for domestically sold goods and exported goods.
l Price control will not aim to provide protection to domestic manufacturers and service companies.
l China is to modify existing domestic legislation and draft new laws in a unified and effective manner in line with the WTO Agreement so as to meet requirements of the WTO Agreement.
l Three years after China’S WTO entry, expect for a handful of cases, all enterprises will have the right to import and export goods and conduct trade within the customs territory.
l Farm products will have no export subsidies of any sort.
After China fulfils all its pledges, its average tariff on farm products will drop to 15 per cent, while tariffs of industrial goods will drop to 8.9 per cent.
Subsequent to China’s WTO accession, foreign companies involved in services will be allowed to establish equity joint ventures in China which, no longer limited in number, can provide services in some cities.
Five years after WTO accession, foreign financial institutions will be allowed to provide renminbi services to all Chinese customers. Foreign insurance companies can set up nonlife insurance subsidiaries or joint ventures in China, and foreign businesses will be allowed to establish solely foreign-owned subsidiaries.
To suit the needs of joining the WTO, China has been revising and improving laws and regulations involving foreign trade and economic cooperation. It is expected that by 2010, a legal system of market economy in conformity with China’s national conditions will take shape.
Numerous decrees, regulations and rules still need to be revised for the sake of china’s WTO entry, said Zhang Yuqing, director of the Department of Laws and Regulations under the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation (MOFTEC). More than 2,000 bits of regulations need to be revised, one by one.
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