The Sino-US agreement reached last November on China's accession to the WTO will definitely produce major and far-reaching influence on the economies of China and the world as a whole.

This commentary, written by Ji Hong, is focused on the following three points:

I. China's joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) represents a major practical step it takes in its active participation in the economic globalization process, and the necessary choice in persisting in development.

Acceleration of the economic globalization process is the salient characteristic and inevitable trend of today's world economy. Over the past two decades, especially after Cold War, the overwhelming majority of countries around the world, despite the vast differences in their social systems, ideologies and developmental levels, have, one after another, chosen to embark on the road to a market economy under different social systems. This fact vividly shows the full development of the market economy is a stage that cannot be skipped over in mankind's social and economic development and is the indispensable condition for the realization of modernization. The rapid development of transportation, communication, particularly information technology, has created a material and technological foundation for speeding up economic globalization.

The WTO is one of the most extensive international economic organizations in today's world. Its main functions are: First, formulating international economic and trade regulations and supervising their implementation; second, organizing its member states to conduct negotiations on opening the market; third, establishing a sort of mechanism for coordinating and solving economic and trading disputes between its member states. So the WTO plays an important role in promoting economic globalization. China is the world's largest developing country with its population accounting for nearly one-fourth of the world total, its economic aggregate has jumped to the 7th placing in the world, and its total export and import values have ranked ninth and 11th respectively in the world. Obviously, the WTO is incomplete without China's participation and cannot truly reflect its nature as a world trade organization.

Economic globalization is the general trend. Although economic globalization is unequal to the developed and developing countries in terms of profit and risk, the developing nations, however, must go with the tide of historical development if they do not want to remain in a long-term, backward state and stay in a passive position and take a beating, they should actively participate in the economic globalization process and strive to give play to their late developed superiority in the extensive international economic cooperation and competition and bring about leaping development. China is a developing country at the primary stage of socialism. The fundamental task of socialism is to liberate and develop productive forces. It is especially important and urgent to speed up development for a country at the primary stage of socialism. Under contemporary historical conditions, a country pursuing a close-door policy cannot develop rapidly, but will only further widen its gap with the developed countries; ; it can develop itself in a faster and better way only by unswervingly opening to the outside world and making full use of international and domestic markets and resources. Over the past 21 years, China has constantly opened its door wider to the outside world, vigorously developed its export-oriented economy, made large-scale use of foreign capital and introduced advanced foreign technology and management expertise, these efforts have effectively promoted a sustained, rapid and sound development of its national economy, notably enhanced its comprehensive national strength and rapidly improved its people's living standards. China's WTO entry is an important practical step it has taken in its active participation in the economic globalization process, in further perfecting the pattern of its opening to the outside world and in vigorously developing its export-oriented economy. Accession to the WTO will make it possible for China to achieve more development opportunities in the vast international economic arena and gain greater say in the formulation of international economic and trading rules and in handling trading disputes, and receiving relatively fair and just treatment. In this sense, China's WTO entry is a necessary choice in its effort to persist in and carry out development.

II. Grasping the new situation emerged after WTO entry, further accelerating the fundamental shift of China's economic system and method of economic growth, and boosting the perfection of the socialist market economic structure and the optimization and upgrading of the economic structure.

After 21 years of untiring exploration, development and innovation, China's economic restructuring has broken the highly centralized traditional planned economic system and has initially set up the framework of a socialist market economy. This accomplishment indicates that major and substantive progress has been made in boosting the fundamental shift of the economic system. But the final accomplishment of this fundamental change, and the gradual strengthening, perfection and maturation of the socialist market economic structure still require long-term, arduous efforts and the further deepening of reform. Accession to the WTO will play an enormous, promotional role in China's endeavor to further boost the fundamental shift in the economic system and to establish a relatively complete socialist market economic structure.

To sum up, China's WTO entry will bring about a further connection of the domestic economic system with the international economic system on the premise of upholding the basic system of socialism. Therefore, it is helpful to our efforts to set up a comparatively perfect socialist market economic structure.

Fairly big progress has been made in the shift of China's economic growth method from an extensive to an intensive type over the past few years. But generally speaking, we have not as yet fundamentally done away with the extensive growth method. In the face of the major change in the international economic environment at the turn of the century, the initial formation of a new pattern of a "buyer's market" for the domestic economy as well as the increasingly severe problem concerning natural resources and ecological environment, it is more and more difficult for the extensive economic growth to continue and so is essential to speed up its change toward an intensive type. This requires that we conscientiously implement the strategy of rejuvenating the nation through science and technology, rely on technological progress and improve laborers' qualities, accelerate the optimization and upgrading of the economic structure, thereby substantially raising the utilization rate of resources, improving the quality and efficiency of economic growth and realizing sustainable economic and social development. Joining the WTO makes it possible to face squarely up to the pressure of international competition, enhance the sense of urgency of changing the economic growth method, and to create new favorable conditions for speeding up this fundamental change.

III. Seizing the opportunity brought bout by WTO entry, turning pressure into a driving force, promoting strong points and avoiding weaknesses and better developing ourselves through taking an active part in international economic cooperation and competition.

Economic globalization and the rapid development of science and technology will bring the development of productive forces to a new stage. Proceeding from the stage of development China is in and the need for its further development, we should seize and make effective use of opportunities, be good at pursuing advantages and avoiding disadvantages, dare to cope with international competition and challenges. We should improve the quality and competitiveness of China's industries during our active participation in international economic cooperation and competition and more effectively develop our own economy, this is an important mission entrusted to us by history.

Joining the WTO, further opening the domestic market and participating in global competition will unavoidably exert certain impact and pressure on some of China's capital- and technology-intensive industries which start comparatively late and have a low development level. In order to maintain the country's political and economic independence and safeguard the State economic security, we must enhance our overall national strength and raise the international competitiveness of our industries, at no time should this point be shaken.

The responsibility of the government is to create an efficient, standard and equal policy environment for enterprises, urge them to actively participate in international economic cooperation and competition, study, absorb and assimilate advanced foreign technologies and management expertise, promote strong points and avoid shortcomings, quicken our own technological innovation and constantly raise our international competitiveness.

As the largest developing country in the world, and as a socialist country with enormous political superiority and development potential, China should and can actively participate in the economic globalization process and cope with various tests and challenges facing China after its accession to the WTO. We should grasp the opportunity offered by accession to WTO, further improve the socialist market economic structure, quicken the shift in the economic growth method and structural readjustment, constantly enhance China's international competitiveness and greet the new era for China's take-off by presenting a brand-new look.