ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the complexity and debates about China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) from three perspectives: major opportunities and challenges from China's perspective, the controversy from the United States' perspective, and the prospective impacts from the global perspective. According to the World Bank, China's annual economic growth has averaged around 8 percent for the past two decades, quadrupling her gross domestic product since 1978. China's competitive advantages in the global economy include abundant cheap labor, millions of well-trained yet relatively low-paid engineers, and good infrastructure. The WTO grew out of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade signed by twenty-three nations in 1947. The most favored nation clause calls for each member nation to grant every other member nation the most favorable treatment concerning imports and exports. Integrating China into the global economy is a major policy challenge for both China and the rest of the world.
