China's WTO Negotiation Process and its Implications

Abstract

China's GATT/WTO accession process has been dynamic and complex, affected by the broad political and economic factors at both the international and the domestic levels, and by a complex intertwining of bilateral and multilateral negotiations. This paper attempts to review this 15-year-long negotiation by focusing on the correlation and interaction between three variables--international factors, bureaucratic politics, and societal factors--and the negotiation process. Among them, the author identifies the first two variables as the primary factors shaping negotiation positions, strategies and outcomes, while societal factors such as Congress, interest groups and the public media are also worth noting. They played a minor but growing role in China to affect the ebb and flow of the negotiation process. Furthermore, they functioned differently in the West and in China and these differences themselves also contributed to influencing the negotiation process.