China's position and role in the Doha Round negotiations

The WTO made two major accomplishments during its fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha in 2001. One was the accession of China which represented an important step toward the WTO's goal of being “a truly universal system.” ¹ The other was the commencement of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations, later referred to as the Doha Round. However, ten years later, the two developments show a striking contrast. While China's WTO accession has facilitated the further opening of the Chinese economy and contributed to China's phenomenal economic success, the Doha Round negotiations have nevertheless been mired in a series of failed negotiations due to Members' inability to come to any consensus.