ChinaIs accession to the WTO benefits the whole world

By Long Yongtu

China's accession to the WTO is a win-win result, which has changed the pattern of global multilateral trade, benefiting people all over the world,especially the developing countries, and of course the developed countries, including the United States,which is also one of the beneficiaries of China's accession to WTO.

Breakthrough and persistence

To study the historical achievements of the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO,we should realize that the accession has brought two major breakthroughs to the reform and opening up.

The first major breakthrough for China is to promise to the world that China would implement a market economy by joining WTO, which was a significant historical turning point of China's reform and opening up.Before 1992, market economy is regarded as equivalent to capitalism, not an economic means.The second major breakthrough is China's commitment to open its market to the whole world through its accession to the WTO, which has greatly promoted China's opening to the world.In fact, these two breakthroughs are the major achievements of China's WTO accession negotiations, and they are also the two keys to the certain position in the history of China's reform and opening up.

However, the two breakthroughs have the characteristics of China.China promises to practice the market economy, at the same time,firmly expresses that the market economy in China is a socialist market economy.For the WTO, it is the first country to adhere to socialism while committing to a market economy, which is a more significant breakthrough.In addition, while agreeing to open the market, China has always insisted that China's market opening as a developing country must be carried out according to the developing level, stage and affordability.These achievements have been consistently achieved under the correct leadership of the CPC Central Committee, and deserve to be seriously summarized by the industry.

A new starting point of reforming and opening up

China did not regard the commitments made in the WTO negotiations as the end of opening up, but as the starting point.In the past 20 years, China's reform and opening up has not stopped, but has expanded.The understanding of China's accession to WTO for 20 years is related to many important issues, and it is not an isolated event.In the whole process of "WTO accession"negotiations, China has seized and grasped the great historical opportunity.When the "9.11" incident happened, it was the last time that China completed the WTO accession negotiations.On September 10, 2001, when the last WTO working group meeting was held, there were still many final WTO agreements that had not been reached.At that time, the attitude of Americans was tough, the negotiation was difficult to carry out at a time.On September 13th, the position of the United States changed greatly and began to adjust its global strategy, so China joined the WTO that year.It can be said that the year 2001 was an important year between China and the United States,while China further accelerated its reform and opening up.

The industry should conscientiously sum up the experience in the WTO negotiations, as well as some important historical experiences after China's WTO accession, and analyze how China grasped the historical trend and correctly handled the relationship between China and the whole world in the process of China's WTO accession.

To cultivate a large number of “invisible champions”

Enterprise is the cell of economy.The health of enterprise determines the health of economy, and the competitiveness of enterprise determines the competitiveness of economy.The vast majority of enterprises in China are small and medium-sized enterprises.If these enterprises are healthy and competitive, then the enterprises as a whole will be healthy and competitive in the world.

Over the years, we have advocated the spirit of artisans and encouraged small and medium-sized enterprises, especially small and micro enterprises, to become“invisible champions”."Invisible" means that these enterprises are hardly noticed by the outside world; the "champion" means that these enterprises almost completely dominate their respective market areas.They occupy a high market share, have unique competitive strategies,and often work hard in a certain market segment.

China should cultivate a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises with brand value.If small and medium-sized enterprises develop well, the economic quality will be assured, and China's global competitiveness will be more advantageous in the layout of the global industrial chain.Therefore, China has pointed out the development direction of small and medium-sized enterprises, which is of great significance for high-quality economic development.

As a matter of fact, some cities have trained a number of invisible champions, which have been promoted from local to national, which is of great significance to the economic quality of the whole country, especially the quality of manufacturing industry, because it has fundamentally solved some weak links in the development of manufacturing industry in China.China's accession to WTO brings win-win results.People should not only focus on how much China's GDP has increased in the past 20 years, but also sum up what the world market has gained and what the United States has gained in the past 20 years.At that time, we said that this was not a victory for China, and the whole negotiating delegation was not ecstatic about the success of China's accession to WTO.

In my opinion, China's accession to the WTO has changed the pattern of global multilateral trade, benefiting people all over the world, especially the developing countries, and of course the developed countries.Therefore, the industry should study what Singapore has gained, what the United States has gained, what the European Union has gained, and what Africa has gained after China's accession to the WTO, so as to comprehensively sum up the experience in the past 20 years.