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China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is just as important to the global trade club as it is to China, a senior US WTO expert said recently.
"China's WTO entry is the single most important event in the short history of the WTO," said Professor John H. Jackson, a member of the panel of experts with the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), at a seminar organized by the Law School of the University of International Business and Trade (UIBE).
"The WTO is not truly a world trade organization without China," said Jackson, adding the trade body is obliged to adjust itself now that China has become a full member.
Jackson, a professor with the Georgetown University Law Center, was invited to work for a series of WTO workshops focusing on anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguard measures, according to Monday's China Daily.
He said he was not anticipating a flood of actions resulting from trade disputes with China, as many people in the United States have been expecting, because the Chinese government will act with caution.
Now, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body is handling 50 cases. Jackson considered that China will have a leadership position in the trade body, particularly in terms of rule changing, and "the world will be grateful for China's entrance."
Wan E'xiang, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court and an expert in WTO Rules, said to fulfill China's WTO commitment, his court has put all foreign-related cases on the Internet.
The court is planning to open its files of all tried cases to institutions and law professionals in the near future, said Wan, who himself was a student of Jackson when he was studying in the United States.
Wang Shichun, director of the newly formed Fair Trade Bureau for Imports and Exports under the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, said China will not resort to anti-dumping charges and safeguard measures to protect its backward industries.
"China will only take fair and reasonable measures consistent with WTO rules," Wang said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2002)
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