China's rapid economic growth first astounded Western countries, but now it frightens them. The West is keen to attribute much of the growth to China's entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in December 2001. This paternalistic attitude diminishes China's contribution to its own economic growth and also helps to explain the resentment the U.S. in particular harbors against China's growth.
Some in the West argue that China's rapid economic growth is largely due to Western assistance, but economic growth always rests on the advances made in other economies. Early American manufacturing success rested on ideas and designs imported from England, and then improved upon. Japanese economic growth in the Meiji period grew from deliberate government policy to use Western assistance to emulate methods and products from the West.
However, the speed and nature of the reorganization of an economy depends upon community attitudes towards foreign assistance. China's entry into the WTO certainly made some aspects of economic growth easier to achieve. Other countries admitted to the WTO have not always experienced a similar massive boost to economic growth. We need to look more deeply at the contribution made by WTO membership and the discontent that surrounds China's success.
The foundation of China's economic change can be traced to Deng Xiaoping, former Chinese leader. Talking with a Japanese delegation on June 30, 1984, he said, \"To uphold socialism we must eliminate poverty. Poverty is not socialism.\" This represented a significant step on the path towards socialism with Chinese characteristics that is the foundation of China's astounding economic achievement in lifting millions of people out of poverty and toward common prosperity.
The main motivation of Chinese leaders in promoting China's entry into WTO was to use foreign expertise and competition to speed up economic reform in both the industrial and service sectors to achieve socialism with Chinese characteristics.
When China joined the WTO, it agreed to accept considerably harsher conditions than other developing countries which were WTO members. These more demanding conditions are forgotten in the current Western criticisms of China's relationship with the WTO.
China's service sector was considerably liberalized and foreign investment was allowed, ending the restrictions on retail, wholesale and distribution. Banking, financial services, insurance and telecommunications in China were also opened up to foreign investment. China also had to deal with certain concerns linked to transparency and intellectual property.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
