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Chinese Lawyers Urged to Get Ready for WTO Entry
A senior official from the Ministry of Justice urged legal services December 4 to prepare for China's entry into the World Trade Organization WTO), which is expected soon.
"Lawyers and researchers should learn about the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism," said Liu Yang, vice-Minister of Justice.
Her comments came at the opening ceremony of a workshop on the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, its rules, procedures and practices.
She said that judicial administrative departments and government legal advisers should be prepared to provide accurate legal help to facilitate national and regional policy making.
The 11-day workshop, co-sponsored by the Ministry of Justice and the State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs, is being held in Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing and is expected to attract more than 160 delegates, including government legal advisers and researchers form 28 law colleges and schools.
Touring lecturers from the WTO, the United States, South Africa, Japan, Australia and China will address participants in the three workshops.
The lack of specialists on the WTO has become an issue being discussed more and more in China now. Long Yongtu, China's top WTO negotiator, acknowledged over the weekend that more work needs to be done to improve research in this field.
Reform, Only Way to Meet WTO Challenges: Scholar
Renowned economist Li Yining called upon Chinese lawyers to enhance reform in their trade to better meet the challenges they will face after China enters the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Li, also a vice-chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), made the remark at the "Chinese Lawyer Millennium Conference", which open November 18 in Beijing.
With China's impending accession to the WTO, laws and lawsuits in the post-WTO era have become the major concern of the 110,000 Chinese lawyers as well as a heatedly-debated issue at the conference.
Li pointed out that although some people admit the long-term benefits of the WTO entry, they declare that all trades in China except textiles will face an uphill battle.
However, he said, "they should realize that China's entry into the WTO will ultimately promote the reform in all trades and the change in the government's functions. The reform is vital for all undertakings in China, including the Chinese Bar."
According to the economist, Chinese law firms have developed from merely state-run agencies 20 years ago to joint firms, cooperative firms and state-funded firms. Despite the major changes, the Chinese law firm system needs to be further reformed to meet the new situation and challenges, he said.
Li suggested new types of law firms be established to solve the funding problem, individuals be allowed to set up private law firms, and the modern corporate system be introduced to form large and competitive large law firms.
After China enters the WTO, Chinese law firms will be meeting increasingly fierce competition from their overseas counterparts, he said, pointing out that only reform and innovation can attract more personnel and investment into the trade.
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