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Feature

20 years of China's WTO accession: Clinton's big mistake

China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 was met with high hopes in the Western world. The integration of the emerging country into the multilateral organization was supposed to promote not only global prosperity, but also free entrepreneurial activity in China. These hopes were largely disappointed. Although prosperity has increased, China is still not a free market economy.

By Felix Lee

Feature

IMF and World Bank – a venue for the China-US power struggle

Global institutions such as the IMF, the WTO, and the World Bank are increasingly shaped by the rivalry between China and the US. For Beijing, they are bulwarks of the West. China, therefore, wants to counteract by creating its own organizations. The Bulgarian IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva has apparently been caught in the crossfire.

By Frank Sieren

Opinion

Kissinger's secret passion for Beijing's Temple of Heaven

When Henry Kissinger and his Chinese interlocutors found themselves in a diplomatic dead-end in the early 1970s, they visited the Temple of Heaven in Beijing – and immediately got back on track. And to this day, the once sacred place full of symbolism inspires astute analysis. Meanwhile, Kissinger, the mastermind of modern US policy towards China, despairs over the aggressive course the two superpowers have taken.

By

WTO News: Since China joined the WTO in 2001, the former developing country has risen to an important economic power. As a member, China uses its economic strength to enforce its interests. Read all the recent news about China and the WTO by the China.Table editorial team.

Definition: What is the WTO?

The WTO is one of the most important international organizations that, along with the IMF and the World Bank. It deals with the rules governing trade between nations and thus addresses trade and economic policy on a global scale. WTO is short for World Trade Organization.

The WTO was established in 1994 from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. It has had 164 members since 2016.

China joins WTO: disputes and complaints

China joined the WTO on December 11, 2001. At that time, the act of China joining the organization was closely knit to hopes of Western countries about an opening of the country as well as the transformation of China’s political system. However, more than 20 years later it has become apparent that this idea has not come to fruition. Instead, under Xi Jinping, the expansion of state intervention in China’s economy has increased significantly and China attempts to spread its political views throughout the world.

Internationally, China also demonstrates its newly won self-confidence and uses its economic strength as a member of the WTO to influence other states. Numerous states filed complaints against China in front of the organization. Many complaints are directed against China's classification as a developing country. Despite its rapidly growing economy, it thus benefits from unfair competitive conditions and is exempt from some regulations.

The latest disputes include the tariff dispute between Australia and China and the dispute over the trade embargo against Lithuania.

The WTO and China are important players in the global economy, yet China is facing numerous complaints and disputes. China.Table provides you with all the recent news.