ABSTRACT
It has been ten years since China joined the WTO and the commitments that the country made, including those of the transition period, have basically been fulfilled. People are now beginning to evaluate this historic event, and they are coming up with different conclusions about foreign direct investment in China. Most evaluations view the process from the perspective of how open China’s market has or has not become. For example, what quantity of foreign investment has been utilized in the country over the past ten years, what the structure of investment has been, and to what degree are China’s services open. Those who have a positive impression of what has happened point to the increasing amount of foreign direct investment, how it has upgraded and diversified China’s economy, and how it has contributed to economic development. Others hold quite a different opinion, however. They feel that the huge amount of foreign capital surging into the country has brought on an excessive increase in foreign exchange, and led to too much capital, while foreign investment has monopolized and threatened the security of China’s own industries. They feel that the strategy to exchange markets for technology has been a failure, since not only has foreign investment not brought in core technology but Chinese industry has also been made technology dependent on outsiders. This dependency has rigidified the existing division of labor between China and developed countries.
