Handbook on China's WTO accession and its impacts

"It has taken China 15 long years of tough negotiations to achieve accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). By becoming a full member of the WTO, China has in fact made three tiers of commitments. The first tier is the commitment to the objectives of the WTO, such as free trade, most-favoured nations, national treatment and transparency, as expounded in the various documents setting up the organization and its predecessor, the GATT. The second tier is the commitment to the set of rules governing trade for specific sectors, such as agricultural and textile goods, or information technology and telecommunications. This is set out in China's accession protocol. The third tier is the commitment to bilateral agreements which China signed with her major trading partners. Their support is mandatory before China can be admitted to the WTO and therefore she has to satisfy each of them through elaborate bilateral negotiations. This handbook highlights the important commitments that China has made to the international community and analyzes the potential impact of such commitments on China."--BOOK JACKET.