Activities During 30 Days Before China's Official Entry into WTO

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Activities During 30 Days Before China's Official Entry into WTO

Following 15 years of marathon negotiations, China has spent the past 30 days making comprehensive preparations for its official accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday.

Following 15 years of marathon negotiations, China has spent the past 30 days making comprehensive preparations for its official accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday.

The major events during the one-month period include the issuance by the Chinese government and ministries of several laws and regulations which accord with WTO rules. Some laws and regulations contradictory to the WTO rules have been abolished.

Anti-Subsidy Statute

China's State Council issued a decree Tuesday announcing that the country's Anti-Subsidy Statute will go into effect January 1, 2002.

The statute, approved at the 46th executive meeting of the State Council on October 31, 2001, aims at safeguarding order and fair competition in the field of foreign trade. According to the statute, investigations will be conducted if products are exported to China with a subsidy and actually cause damage, or pose a potential danger to Chinese businesses. (Full Story)

Foreign Fund in Telecom Sector

The Ministry of Information Industry has abolished two statutes banning the entry of foreign funds into the country's telecommunications industry. The ban was lifted Tuesday. (Full Story)

Telecom Monopoly Split

Preparations in industries took a major step forward Tuesday, as the government announced the breakup of China Telecom into two companies: the northern and the southern firms.

According to the official announcement, the northern company will take over the assets of branches in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Henan and Shandong, while the branches in the rest of the country will go to the southern company. Both companies will be licensed to operate local fixed-phone services.

The move is widely regarded a major step to end China Telecom's monopoly in local fixed-phone service in preparation for the entry of foreign competitors. (Full Story)

Banking Sector

According to an announcement made by the People's Bank of China on December 9, starting from December 11, foreign-funded financial agencies in China are allowed to expand their exchange service to all work units and individuals in the country, and those foreign-funded financial organizations based in Shanghai and Shenzhen are allowed to operate RMB businesses.

Motivated by the alluring market following China's WTO entry, over a dozen foreign banks in Europe, the United States and Japan have applied for upgrading their agencies to business organizations over the past 30 days, said sources with the Shanghai Branch of the People's Bank of China. (Full Story)

Insurance Market

The insurance market in the national capital Beijing will open to foreigners within two years after China became an official member of the WTO, according the commitments of the Chinese government.

Travelling

Although solely foreign-funded travel agencies will be permitted to operate in China five years from now on, some foreign-funded travel services could not wait to enter the Chinese market.

Two foreign-funded travel agencies were found to be illegally operating in the Chinese capital and both were ordered to stop business, the municipal tourism bureau announced on November 24. The illegal gains of the two firms were confiscated.

English Learning

According to experts' predictions, people who know English would not have trouble finding jobs following China's entry into the WTO.

English training classes have become a top favorite of an increasing number of people in the Chinese capital recently, reports say. The majority of the English learners say that they want to learn the language in order to do a good job at work and better communicate with others.

The government has also loosened restrictions on Chinese citizens going abroad and foreigners coming into China.

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