Is China Killing the WTO? Chinese Officials are Ignoring both International and Local Law for Companies That Produce for Export (World Trade Organization ‪)‬

For fifteen long years, the members of the GATT/WTO debated whether they would be better off with China as a member. Trade policymakers understood that the international organization could not pretend to govern world trade with such an important trading nation outside of the World Trade Organization. They wagered that China's trade policy would become more predictable, accessible, and transparent. Moreover, they concluded that member states could collaborate, using the WTO's rules, to prod China to act responsibly as a global trader. China acceded to the WTO in 2001. To some degree that bet has "paid off," producing benefits for the citizens of China and other countries. Trade has helped China lift some four hundred million people out of poverty and has provided more of the Chinese people with greater access to opportunities. Foreign investors and producers now serve China's growing market, while consumers worldwide can purchase a broad range of well-made affordable goods made in China. Meanwhile, Chinese demand for goods and raw materials has created jobs and stimulated economic growth in many developing countries. The World Bank notes that the efficiency and scale of China's manufacturing has pushed down the prices of many manufactured products relative to other goods and services.