Issues in the accession of China to the WTO system

China’s chief interlocutors in the negotiations on its accession to the WTO system are the United States, Japan and the European Union. But many smaller countries, developed and developing, also have a stake in the outcome. Because the Uruguay Round negotiations were conducted as a single undertaking, requiring all the participants to be parties to the resulting agreements, the smaller WTO members expect China, Taiwan and other applicants for membership to abide by the club’s rules in much the same way expected of them. This China is prepared to do as a developing country. More is expected, though, of an emerging trading power, even if it is still coping with uncertainties in its transformation into a market economy.     

China’s economic system and its accession to the WTO

In moving towards becoming a market economy, China has made dramatic strides since embarking on reforms in 1978, but liberalizations have been accompanied by inflationary booms followed by bouts of social instability. These last account for much of the caution in China’s approach to joining the World Trade Organization, which is seen as critical to securing further foreign direct investment, foreign technology and access to foreign markets—all necessary to economic growth and development. There is a reluctance to make firm commitments to abide by WTO rules on a schedule faster than that expected of developing countries. Perhaps the commitments required could be undertaken in confidence-building stages. Albert Keidel III is president, Rock Creek Research Inc., economic consultants, Bethesda, Maryland, and teaches on China’s economy in the Department of Economics, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.     

Taiwan’s WTO accession: Meeting the requirements

In applying to join the World Trade Organization, the separate customs territory of Taiwan, Penghou, Kinmen and Matsu—Taiwan for short—is trying to go the extra mile. In the “accession” negotiations, it is making doubly sure that its foreign trade regime conforms to WTO rules, that its market-opening commitments match or exceed those made by similar economies in the Uruguay Round agreements and that its laws, regulations and practices are transparent. In shifting from bilateral trading arrangements to the multilateral system, Taiwan would dispense with preferences in favor of certain countries, which expect to be compensated if they are to support its accession. In applying as a developed economy, Taiwan has met almost all the WTO’s implicit requirements, while outstanding issues can be resolved if its trading partners have the will to do so.     

入世后两岸经贸关系的发展趋势

本文对海峡两岸加入世贸组织对两岸经贸关系的影响进行了评估,认为入世会使两岸经贸关系逐步趋于正常化,改变两岸贸易的不平衡,实现两岸投资的双向流动,促使两岸与港澳地区的经济互动与合作.     

Next task for the WTO system and the APEC process

With the “globalization” of production, firms need to be able to operate in other economies, exploiting their advantages, enabling them to remain internationally competitive. Today, the focus of attention, in the international trading system, is shifting to measures that affect the ability of foreign firms to invest and conduct business in national economies, to the openness of markets to global competition. However such measures are broached, governments cannot get away from deciding unilaterally whether, when, and how to deregulate, creating an internationally attractive business environment. Asia has benefited much from foreign direct investment, not regional trade negotiations, and APEC should adhere to non-discrimination as its guiding principle. Ryutaro Hashimoto has been minister of international trade and industry in the government of Japan since 1994, having earlier been minister of finance (1989–1991) and minister of transport (1986–1987).     

China’s entry to the WTO and the jackson-vanik amendment

When Senator Henry Jackson, of Washington State, took aim at the USSR in 1974 he hit China more than two decades later. With the end of the Cold War, the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the Trade Act of 1974, passed in order to help Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union, now annually disrupts the United States relationship with China to no purpose and poses serious problems for the accession of the People’s Republic to the World Trade Organization, which came into being in 1995 as the foundation of the new world trading system. What is to be done about removing this obstacle in the Congress of the United States to the integration of China into the world economy?     

台湾地区《金融控股公司法》评析

台湾地区《金融控股公司法》是适应金融机构跨业经营的世界潮流及应对加入WTO的形势而颁布的 ,它赋予台湾金融机构跨业经营的法源基础 ,同时对金融控股公司的定义、设立、业务范围、活动准则和监督作出规范。《金融控股公司法》对中国大陆金融机构混业经营形态的选择及监管措施的设置具有参考价值。     

U.S. policy and Taiwan’s reintegration into the global community

Taiwan is making headway in its campaign to improve its international position. After years of publicly ignoring Taiwan, many foreign governments are willing to upgrade relations with Taipei. This article outlines the background of Taiwan’s new “pragmatic” approach to foreign policy and explores various considerations that are helping the island break out of its diplomatic isolation. In conclusion, the author suggests that the United States should support Taiwan in its bid to rejoin the international community.     

Reunification deadlocked: The United States,China and Taiwan

Abstract

Since the New China News Agency's release on March 15, 1949, of an editorial entitled “The Chinese People Are Determined to Liberate Taiwan,” that theme has been a cardinal principle of Peking's national policy. To appreciate fully the Chinese position, one must recognize not only Peking's claim that Taiwan is legally, ethnically, and historically an integral part of China, but also modern China's yeaming for national reunification and territorial integrity. On the ethnic question, China points to the fact that except for an extremely small number of aborigines, the inhabitants on the island today, including the so-called “native Taiwanese,” are of Chinese ancestry. They speak southeastern Chinese dialects and share with their compatriots on the mainland all the other basic Chinese cultural traits. Historically, as a Chinese spokesman once put it, “long before Christopher Columbus discovered America, the Chinese people were already in Taiwan. Long before the United States achieved its own independence, Taiwan had already become an inseparable part of the territory of China.” Although imperialist Japan occupied the island from 1895 to 1945, the island was returned to China in 1945 after Japan's surrender at the end of the Pacific War.     

加入WTO后我国保险法制体系的完善

完善我国的保险法制体系是加入WTO后的一项重要任务。本文分析了世界贸易组织 (简称WTO)的金融服务贸易制度的透明度原则对我国保险法制体系的影响 ,并对我国保险法律、法规、规章以及其他规范性文件进行了系统的整理和分析 ,最后提出了完善我国保险法制体系的措施。     

台湾发展场外交易市场的经验及其对大陆的启示

本文把台湾场外交易市场50多年进化与创新的历史划分为三个阶段,并总结出其六大成功经验:即"适足造履"、"宽严适度"、"疏堵结合"、"因柜制宜"、"夯实基础"、"支持创业".以台湾为鉴,笔者指出大陆场外交易市场的改革取向是:不断适应民间资本和中小企业的投、融资需要,把低层次场外交易市场打造成资本市场体系的基础,坚持制度先行与统一监管的原则,推进相关政策和措施的配套联动.     

新世纪台商在大陆投资的新特点

入世后受大陆深化改革、加快市场开放的影响 ,台商在新世纪初掀起了新一波以高科技产业为主导 ,大型集团企业为龙头和高附加值服务业投资为重要内容的新一轮大陆投资热 ,台商对大陆投资方式、投资形态和产业与地域布局都发生了重大变化。     

两岸经贸关系的发展与趋势

经过 2 0多年的发展 ,海峡两岸的经贸往来在各方面都取得了令人瞩目的成就 ,但由于台湾当局的限制 ,两岸经贸关系存在着明显的间接性、单向性和不平衡性。加入 WTO后 ,两岸在开放市场、减少限制上都做出了相应的努力 ,使两岸经贸关系呈现出范围扩大、程度加深和规模增加的趋势 ,同时也出现了诸如贸易争端浮现、人才争夺加剧等问题 ,并面临经济区域化加速的挑战。为了趋利避害 ,促使两岸经贸健康持续地发展 ,两岸有必要建立经济合作机制 ,实现由“功能性合作”向“机制性合作”的转变。     

China Comes Home: The Re-integration of China into the World Economy

This paper examines changes in the Iranian educational system implemented by the Islamic theocracy of Ayatollah Khomeini and his religious followers in the decade after the Revolution overthrowing the Shah. The study demonstrates weaknesses in the theoretical literature on development and education because of its inability to anticipate people in a developing nation empowering a government controlled by religious leaders. Religious values dominate this society and they have significantly altered Iranian education in terms of who teaches; how political/religious ideology, gender roles, and other subjects are taught; who attends schools; and consequentially, these affect Iran's literacy rates.     

美伊战争对中美台三角关系影响透视

美国绕过联合国不顾国际社会的普遍反对而发动对伊战争,不但严重损害了联合国权威和现行国际秩序,而且对中、美、台“两岸三边”关系也将产生明显影响。     

TMD与台湾问题

此文揭示了小布什上台后TMD发展的一些新动向,分析了导弹防御体系的营建对地区安全和台湾问题的影响,并就TMD的前景和中国的应对之遭提出了看法.     

中国入世和"10+1"背景下的中菲经济政治关系

本文从菲律宾"逆工业化"经济发展的特点,政府与商界的互动关系,菲律宾国内政治发展的需要,华菲族群之间的经济差距,以及菲律宾21世纪外交政策的特点等视角,探究了菲律宾政府与商界逆向应对中国入世和"10 1"的深层原因.中菲两国的经济合作存在着互补的空间,中菲两国高层领导人在处理双边关系过程中所表现出的理智和睿智,决定了在中国入世和"10 1"的背景下,中菲经济政治关系不仅不会倒退,反而将会有较快的发展.     

The integration of cooptation and coercion: China’s Taiwan strategy since 2001

In the past half-decade, China has developed a careful balance of cooptative and coercive power in its attempts to dampen the Taiwan independence movement and pursue political unification. In essence, attempts to curry favor with politically relevant constituencies on Taiwan have been paired with attempts to diplomatically isolate and militarily threaten the island's top policymakers. This balance is risky because of the possibility that it may appear too lenient to PRC nationalists, and too provocative to ROC residents. Nevertheless, the current structure of carrots and sticks has emerged for three reasons. First, the institutional coherence of Chinese decision-making and implementation has allowed for the viability of an adaptive, long-term approach. Second, the constraints on both unreinforced cooptation and coercive diplomacy have mediated toward a posture in which the former is enhanced and the latter downplayed. Third, expanded external opportunities in recent years have made it possible to exploit this middle ground.