重新理解经济发展与自由贸易-以中国稀土工业为例

Abstract

Free Trade is shaped by a system of rules made by WTO and other international organizations initially dominated by the United States and other developed countries. The seemingly fair rules are based on the status quo and designed to consolidate it, in which the “trade barriers” for the developing countries to export their raw materials and cheap labor should be removed and the high added-value manufactured goods should be free to enter the domestic markets of every country. After China joined the WTO, it emerged as a game-changer by following the rules. How China escaped the “resource curse” experienced by many developing countries and became an industrialized developing country capable of competing with the developed countries on fair terms? This paper uses China’s rare earth industry and related industrial policy and law as an example to formulate a narrative in which relationship between law and development can be reconsbidered from the perspective of the developing world.