China Undergoes Conceptual Changes After WTO

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 17, 2002

China Undergoes Conceptual Changes After WTO

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Fresh phrases springing out

"Preferential policies", " internal memos", "review and approval" and some other once familiar concepts are being phased out in China, since the country became a full member of the World Trade Organization in December.

Instead of preferential policies for local businesses, people are talking more about "national treatment", said Yang Yongchun, an official with the industrial and commercial administration in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The once prevailing "internal memos" will either develop into open and systematic laws and regulations or be nullified, he said.

"There will be fewer review and approval procedures to go through when the legal system is cleaned up," said Yang.

Laws and regulations revised

The Chinese government is reviewing laws and regulations to amend or abrogate any provisions that are inconsistent with the WTO rules or China's commitments. China will also enact new legislation in case of absence of laws or regulations for the WTO purposes, with a view to effectively fulfilling its WTO obligations and commitments.

Over 10,000 papers issued by governments at provincial level are also being reviewed.

The Liaoning provincial government have reduced its intervention in business activities by abolishing over 50 percent of the review and approval procedures.

Government intervention is only necessary for those few sectors that involve the allocation of state resources, and established laws and regulations will govern all other business activities, said Yang.

Social changes behind new concepts

The changes brought by WTO, therefore, do not simply lie in China's economic life, but in the ways people think and talk, said Lin Muxi, president of the Economic Management Institute of the Liaoning University.

"Officials need to re-examine the traditional concepts and practices against the WTO rules," said an official with the provincial economic and trade department.

One example he cited was "non-governmental business", an transitional, all-inclusive concept that is used to refer to all business types except those owned by the state.

"'Non-governmental business' will be used less often now that China is a member of WTO," he said, "We will use 'private' or ' joint-stock' businesses in line with the international practice."

Conceptual changes mirror social changes, said Wu Bin, a research fellow at the provincial academy of social sciences, " After all, the concrete measures taken by the government to fulfill its WTO commitments are catalyst to such changes."

Most economists here expressed their confidence that in the post-WTO scenario, the average Chinese will value impartial, open and transparent competitions and China will merge more with the global economy.

China strives to meet WTO challenges

China Completes Rectification of WTO-related Laws

China has completed the rectification of six laws, making them all conforming to the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The six laws are: the Law on Chinese-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, the Trademark Law and the Copy Right Law and the Law on Chinese-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures, the Law on Foreign-Capital Enterprises and the Patent Law.

WTO Entry to Challenge China's Administration System

China's entry into the WTO will lead to great changes in its administration system, said Yang Jingyu, director of the Legal Affairs Office under the State Council, December 29.

Entering the World Trade Organization (WTO) poses a major challenge to the government's capability in administrative control, as the new rules differ greatly from the present ones.

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