Technology Barriers Stalking Threat to China's Export

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 16, 2002

Technology Barriers Stalking Threat to China's Export

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Trade protectionism featuring technology barriers evidently has come to rule in replacing a whole set of stringent free trade rules and a whole range of eddying trade barriers as of tariff, quota and licensing once rampaging throughout the world.

Some developed countries have launched strict criteria on market entry depending on their advantages in technology, management and environment protection. As a result of technology barriers erected China has experienced a great loss in its export trade including textile, agricultural and mechanical and electrical products once commanding brisk market sales abroad.

Experts thought export of resource-intensive products like wheat, maize and bean would face fierce competition after China's entry into the WTO, while labor-intensive products such as vegetable, fruit and seafood would be favored for their low marketing price.

However, things are quite different after China's entry into the WTO. When part of agricultural and seafood products meet foreign technology barriers, their advantages as of a low cost have been offset by disadvantages of small scale, backward technology and low quality.

China loses lots of business opportunities

China has been losing a lot of business opportunities because of the technology barriers. According to the WTO protocols on costume and textile products, China's quota of textile products on the basis of current numbers can be increased 25 percent annually. That means China's export of textile products will get an increase of US$ 500 billion every year.

Nevertheless, China's textile products rely on their market sales mainly in the Western countries, where the technology criteria are more and more strict in the name of guaranteeing people's safe and health. The criteria place obstacles to the market entry of Chinese products since they are hard to meet or can't be met until high costs are put in.

Recent survey shows the entry into the WTO doesn't ease China's trouble in face of foreign countries' technology barriers. Over 60 percent enterprises dealing with export trade consider technology barriers are exerting a more serious effect on exports of the country's labor-intensive products. China will suffer a lot and lose more business opportunities if it can't settle the problem well in spite of success made since after its WTO entry.

By PD Online Staff Yang Ruoqian

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