Chinese trade policy after ten years in the World Trade Organization

So much has changed since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in late 2001. China has powered through the global economic crisis (GEC) with a turbo-charged fiscal and monetary stimulus equivalent to almost 45 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009. It is the leading contributor to post-crisis global growth. Other countries around the world export raw materials and capital goods to power China’s continuing industrial revolution. That is also true of other East Asian economies, which, in addition, export parts and components to China for assembly and export elsewhere. Increasingly, they are also gearing up to export finished goods to a booming Chinese consumer market. More than ever, the rest of Asia revolves around China. ² Gradually, China is asserting itself in international organizations. Its footprint is ever more visible elsewhere in the non-Western world – in its East Asian backyard, and in South Asia, Central Asia, Africa and South America. In the past decade, China has become the leading regional power in Asia, and is on its way to becoming a ‘great power’ in the wider world, alongside the USA. These trends have clearly accelerated in the wake of the global economic crisis.