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China went through over ten years of drastic development after joining the WTO， but now， it is getting marginalized along with this organization in the restructuring of international trade system.
In the Asian-Pacific area， the Trans-Pacific Partnership（TPP）， led by the “U.S. high standard” includes the world’s largest economy the United States and the third largest economy Japan. It seems to be in the last stage of negotiation. In comparison， the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership （RCEP） which China takes part in is still far from the substantial negotiation.
In the headquarters of WTO in Geneva， China can also feel the impact from the rising plurilateral trade agreements led by the U.S. standards. The Information Technology Agreement （ITA） of which China is a member and the Trade in Service Agreement （TISA） China intends to be involved in are challenging the baseline of China’s current system.
Many international scholars believe that the rise of China is accompanied with the decline of the U.S. During the process， there are inevitable conflicts， but from entire situation of the global economy， the rise of regional trade agreements following the U.S. standards is also a result of the slow reform to WTO， which is hard to reach any effec- tive agreements in 18 years.
The trade ministers of Canada and New Zealand， which are activists in both the TPP and RCEP， revealed that the existing members of TPP had decided not to recruit any new members no matter China is willing or not to join in TPP. They will only begin to think of adding new members when the last bit of the TPP negotiation is done.
In the past， China once promoted the domestic reform with the opportunity of joining in the WTO. Now， apart from more efforts in the plurilateral trade， it is time for China to make strategic choices to unify the recognitions of the openingup and reform for a more initiative role in the international rules of the new era.
No China in TPP Now
The disputes inside China never stopped after the initiation of TPP.
Some experts held the opinion that China should join in the negotiation as soon as possible and jump into the decision-making process. Other experts said that the rules of TPP directly targeted the in-depth problems of China’ system， rendering it impossible for China to take part in it quickly. There are concerns about zero tariffs， reform to state-owned enterprises， laborers’ rights， environmental protection and intellectual property. All of them are sensitive points of China. However， it has proven to be meaningless to worry about these problems now， because the United States won’t include China into TPP at this moment.
The trade ministers of the members in TPP shared the same opinion on this matter.
Ed Fast， trade minister of Canada， said that they were eager to see the growth of TPP as a lot of new members would join in. However， their present goal is to finish the negotiation and settle down the agreement as soon as possible. Then a clear template will be formed， according to which new members can be recruited.
New Zealand’s trade minister Tim Groser said that no existing members of TPP expect big countries like China or small countries like Tonga to join in the TPP negotiation in recent times. The 12 existing members are working hard to reach the final agreement. It is not until then would other countries have the chance to join in.
For big economies， the regional trade agreement is more relative to the political consideration apart from the economic benefits. The in-depth strategic mutual trust is the bottommost condition for the free trade agreement. From this perspective， it is unrealistic for China and the U.S. to have a close talk about the setup of the free trade zone.
But from another perspective， the TPP still has an ambiguous future. At first， the final agreement was expected to be reached at the end of last year， which proved to be an over-ambitious goal. Then the time was delayed to the middle of this year， which met failure again. Even Tim Groser or other trade ministers cannot give out a confirmed date of the final agreement now.
The delay is easy to explain. The key to promoting the TPP lies with the progress in the negotiation between the U.S. and Japan， the current two largest economies of TPP. What are delaying these two countries are the agricultural products and automotives， which are considered to be the core benefits. There， it might be very difficult for the agreement to be reached.
In the last two rounds of intensive negotiations， the main disputes were still hard to be solved. On May 31， a TPP meeting was held in Washington with the focus on the tariffs of beef and pork. The Americans hope to increase the tariffs to the original level when the meat importation increases greatly. The Japanese were reluctant to take in this condition. Therefore， the only result of the Washington meeting is that the two will stage another round of negotiation in Tokyo in the future.
Zhou Shijian， a senior researcher with the China-US Relations Institute of Tsinghua University， said that the peasants producing pork and beef are important voters for Shinzo Abe， and the midterm election of U.S. has also limited the rights bestowed upon the trade representatives. Therefore， it is impossible for the agreement to be settled before the election in Japan and mid-term election in the U.S.
Another notable fact， however， is that the periodic achievements are very likely to be achieved in spite of the uncertainty in the final agreement. Presently， the negotiations of TPP saw the progress on a monthly basis， from the establishment of the trio of America， Canada and Japan as the core， to the emergence of disagreements between Japan and the U.S.， and then to the ongoing search for the breaking points.
No matter what kinds of agreements will be finalized in the end， it will undoubtedly have a great impact over China， which is isolated from such a grand market with a high standard. It is not exaggerated to say that it is not less difficult for China to join in the TPP after its finalization than joining in the WTO.
No Idling for China
After the finalization of umbrella agreements， Nele Azevedo， the secretarygeneral of WTO threw himself into the re-initiation of the Doha Round and a 5-month journey to visit leaders of major economies in the world.
The five-month journey centered on East Asia， which has the most active economy in the world. The leaders of China， Japan and South Korea all responded to him actively， but the predicament Azevedo has to face is that the big countries have already shifted their focus onto the free trade negotiation.
China is always a firm supporter for the plurilateral trade agreement. However， the progress is always slow when it comes to the plurilateral trade agreement involving China. What’s worse is that its neighbors are all actively involved in the regional free trade agreements and a huge network is woven next to China.
China has already signed 16 free trade agreements and is negotiating on six. However， China is still in a low level in terms of the development of free trade zone. It has few commitments in the mutual investment and intellectual property protection. The trade volume between China （Hong Kong， Taiwan and Macau excluded） and its free trade partners only accounts for 12% of its total free trade， much lower than the 40% proportion of the U.S.， 28% of EU， 35% of South Korea and 81% of Mexico. According to the statistical data of WTO， there are 247 free trade zones that have been reported to WTO and begun to work. A large number of them were completed in recent years. More than half of the trades in the world happened in these free trade zones， and the figure is growing very fast.
Most of the free trade agree- ments started with the less populated countries with high reliance on the foreign trade. The establishment of a highstandard and unified market is good for the stability of domestic economy. Take South Korea for example： after the financial crisis in 1998， South Korea opened up most of its industrial sectors and signed free trade agreements with most of the major economies in the world. The free trade agreement with the U.S. has the standards no lower than the TPP.
With the participation and promotion of the U.S.， these free trade zones began to have worldwide significance. Among those， the U.S. attaches the most importance to TPP and spends the most time promoting it.
The ongoing negotiation of bilateral or regional free trade agreements is also placed under the limelight of the world because of the involvement of the U.S.， China， Japan and EU， and their promise to open up the markets as much as possible to all members.
Presently， the free trade zones are not limited to the traditional service trade or investment. It has been expanded to the intellectual property， financial policy， governmental purchasing， environment， labor force and state-owned enterprises. The traditional trade negotiations were focused on the tariffs， opening-up and market access while the new negotiations give priority to the laws， rules and measures of the members.
In the Asian-Pacific Area specifically， the Southeastern Asian countries had 63 free trade agreements singed in the past 20 years， accounting for one third of the total number in the whole world. Most of the agreements were finished in recent ten years.
To a certain extent， the involvement of the “U.S. standards” is to follow this trend. Furthermore， some of the standards tally with the orientations of China’s reform which were fixed in the third session of the 18th CPC Congress. However， the pace of the free trade negotiations of China seems to be unable to keep up with it.
Yu Jianhua， who was recently appointed representative of China at WTO， thought that the global trade rules represented by WTO has already fallen behind the changes of the international trade situations and could not match the appeals of involved countries. It is also detached from increasingly closer relation between different countries. In the recent 10 years， the industrial structure and competitive power of each country went through significant changes. In addition， the countries have forged closer economic relations with each other with the development of the global value chain. However， the rules of plurilateral trade still stayed in the level of Uruguay Trade Agreement in 1994， whose depth and extension are not enough for the trade relations between different countries. There， the economies in the world are eager to enhance the integration of the market through the regional free trade agreements and launch new rules for the key fields of cooperation.
For China， even though it is unlikely to reach a close free trade agreement with the U.S. at this moment， it can implement the U.S. standards in the fields of investment and service trade for the promotion of the domestic reform.
The Chinese government has already released the signals of being more opening-up in the third session of the 18th CPC Congress. In addition， the Sino-U.S. bilateral investment treaty （BIT） has already been in the substantial period featuring “negative list” and “pre-entry national treatment”. In the APEC meeting， China proposed the research into the feasibility of FTAAP （free trade agreement in Asia-Pacific）， which has won all- around support. It is also making explorations and tryouts in different systems in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.
It is an important step for China to spread this perception to the whole country. The development of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone is considered to be the signal for the substantial reform of China and a way to unify the perception and understanding. How to co-ordinate the exploits of the free trade zone and spread them nationwide involves several governmental departments. If the job can be done smoothly， China will send out a signal to the outside world about its determination of reform.
In the Asian-Pacific area， the Trans-Pacific Partnership（TPP）， led by the “U.S. high standard” includes the world’s largest economy the United States and the third largest economy Japan. It seems to be in the last stage of negotiation. In comparison， the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership （RCEP） which China takes part in is still far from the substantial negotiation.
In the headquarters of WTO in Geneva， China can also feel the impact from the rising plurilateral trade agreements led by the U.S. standards. The Information Technology Agreement （ITA） of which China is a member and the Trade in Service Agreement （TISA） China intends to be involved in are challenging the baseline of China’s current system.
Many international scholars believe that the rise of China is accompanied with the decline of the U.S. During the process， there are inevitable conflicts， but from entire situation of the global economy， the rise of regional trade agreements following the U.S. standards is also a result of the slow reform to WTO， which is hard to reach any effec- tive agreements in 18 years.
The trade ministers of Canada and New Zealand， which are activists in both the TPP and RCEP， revealed that the existing members of TPP had decided not to recruit any new members no matter China is willing or not to join in TPP. They will only begin to think of adding new members when the last bit of the TPP negotiation is done.
In the past， China once promoted the domestic reform with the opportunity of joining in the WTO. Now， apart from more efforts in the plurilateral trade， it is time for China to make strategic choices to unify the recognitions of the openingup and reform for a more initiative role in the international rules of the new era.
No China in TPP Now
The disputes inside China never stopped after the initiation of TPP.
Some experts held the opinion that China should join in the negotiation as soon as possible and jump into the decision-making process. Other experts said that the rules of TPP directly targeted the in-depth problems of China’ system， rendering it impossible for China to take part in it quickly. There are concerns about zero tariffs， reform to state-owned enterprises， laborers’ rights， environmental protection and intellectual property. All of them are sensitive points of China. However， it has proven to be meaningless to worry about these problems now， because the United States won’t include China into TPP at this moment.
The trade ministers of the members in TPP shared the same opinion on this matter.
Ed Fast， trade minister of Canada， said that they were eager to see the growth of TPP as a lot of new members would join in. However， their present goal is to finish the negotiation and settle down the agreement as soon as possible. Then a clear template will be formed， according to which new members can be recruited.
New Zealand’s trade minister Tim Groser said that no existing members of TPP expect big countries like China or small countries like Tonga to join in the TPP negotiation in recent times. The 12 existing members are working hard to reach the final agreement. It is not until then would other countries have the chance to join in.
For big economies， the regional trade agreement is more relative to the political consideration apart from the economic benefits. The in-depth strategic mutual trust is the bottommost condition for the free trade agreement. From this perspective， it is unrealistic for China and the U.S. to have a close talk about the setup of the free trade zone.
But from another perspective， the TPP still has an ambiguous future. At first， the final agreement was expected to be reached at the end of last year， which proved to be an over-ambitious goal. Then the time was delayed to the middle of this year， which met failure again. Even Tim Groser or other trade ministers cannot give out a confirmed date of the final agreement now.
The delay is easy to explain. The key to promoting the TPP lies with the progress in the negotiation between the U.S. and Japan， the current two largest economies of TPP. What are delaying these two countries are the agricultural products and automotives， which are considered to be the core benefits. There， it might be very difficult for the agreement to be reached.
In the last two rounds of intensive negotiations， the main disputes were still hard to be solved. On May 31， a TPP meeting was held in Washington with the focus on the tariffs of beef and pork. The Americans hope to increase the tariffs to the original level when the meat importation increases greatly. The Japanese were reluctant to take in this condition. Therefore， the only result of the Washington meeting is that the two will stage another round of negotiation in Tokyo in the future.
Zhou Shijian， a senior researcher with the China-US Relations Institute of Tsinghua University， said that the peasants producing pork and beef are important voters for Shinzo Abe， and the midterm election of U.S. has also limited the rights bestowed upon the trade representatives. Therefore， it is impossible for the agreement to be settled before the election in Japan and mid-term election in the U.S.
Another notable fact， however， is that the periodic achievements are very likely to be achieved in spite of the uncertainty in the final agreement. Presently， the negotiations of TPP saw the progress on a monthly basis， from the establishment of the trio of America， Canada and Japan as the core， to the emergence of disagreements between Japan and the U.S.， and then to the ongoing search for the breaking points.
No matter what kinds of agreements will be finalized in the end， it will undoubtedly have a great impact over China， which is isolated from such a grand market with a high standard. It is not exaggerated to say that it is not less difficult for China to join in the TPP after its finalization than joining in the WTO.
No Idling for China
After the finalization of umbrella agreements， Nele Azevedo， the secretarygeneral of WTO threw himself into the re-initiation of the Doha Round and a 5-month journey to visit leaders of major economies in the world.
The five-month journey centered on East Asia， which has the most active economy in the world. The leaders of China， Japan and South Korea all responded to him actively， but the predicament Azevedo has to face is that the big countries have already shifted their focus onto the free trade negotiation.
China is always a firm supporter for the plurilateral trade agreement. However， the progress is always slow when it comes to the plurilateral trade agreement involving China. What’s worse is that its neighbors are all actively involved in the regional free trade agreements and a huge network is woven next to China.
China has already signed 16 free trade agreements and is negotiating on six. However， China is still in a low level in terms of the development of free trade zone. It has few commitments in the mutual investment and intellectual property protection. The trade volume between China （Hong Kong， Taiwan and Macau excluded） and its free trade partners only accounts for 12% of its total free trade， much lower than the 40% proportion of the U.S.， 28% of EU， 35% of South Korea and 81% of Mexico. According to the statistical data of WTO， there are 247 free trade zones that have been reported to WTO and begun to work. A large number of them were completed in recent years. More than half of the trades in the world happened in these free trade zones， and the figure is growing very fast.
Most of the free trade agree- ments started with the less populated countries with high reliance on the foreign trade. The establishment of a highstandard and unified market is good for the stability of domestic economy. Take South Korea for example： after the financial crisis in 1998， South Korea opened up most of its industrial sectors and signed free trade agreements with most of the major economies in the world. The free trade agreement with the U.S. has the standards no lower than the TPP.
With the participation and promotion of the U.S.， these free trade zones began to have worldwide significance. Among those， the U.S. attaches the most importance to TPP and spends the most time promoting it.
The ongoing negotiation of bilateral or regional free trade agreements is also placed under the limelight of the world because of the involvement of the U.S.， China， Japan and EU， and their promise to open up the markets as much as possible to all members.
Presently， the free trade zones are not limited to the traditional service trade or investment. It has been expanded to the intellectual property， financial policy， governmental purchasing， environment， labor force and state-owned enterprises. The traditional trade negotiations were focused on the tariffs， opening-up and market access while the new negotiations give priority to the laws， rules and measures of the members.
In the Asian-Pacific Area specifically， the Southeastern Asian countries had 63 free trade agreements singed in the past 20 years， accounting for one third of the total number in the whole world. Most of the agreements were finished in recent ten years.
To a certain extent， the involvement of the “U.S. standards” is to follow this trend. Furthermore， some of the standards tally with the orientations of China’s reform which were fixed in the third session of the 18th CPC Congress. However， the pace of the free trade negotiations of China seems to be unable to keep up with it.
Yu Jianhua， who was recently appointed representative of China at WTO， thought that the global trade rules represented by WTO has already fallen behind the changes of the international trade situations and could not match the appeals of involved countries. It is also detached from increasingly closer relation between different countries. In the recent 10 years， the industrial structure and competitive power of each country went through significant changes. In addition， the countries have forged closer economic relations with each other with the development of the global value chain. However， the rules of plurilateral trade still stayed in the level of Uruguay Trade Agreement in 1994， whose depth and extension are not enough for the trade relations between different countries. There， the economies in the world are eager to enhance the integration of the market through the regional free trade agreements and launch new rules for the key fields of cooperation.
For China， even though it is unlikely to reach a close free trade agreement with the U.S. at this moment， it can implement the U.S. standards in the fields of investment and service trade for the promotion of the domestic reform.
The Chinese government has already released the signals of being more opening-up in the third session of the 18th CPC Congress. In addition， the Sino-U.S. bilateral investment treaty （BIT） has already been in the substantial period featuring “negative list” and “pre-entry national treatment”. In the APEC meeting， China proposed the research into the feasibility of FTAAP （free trade agreement in Asia-Pacific）， which has won all- around support. It is also making explorations and tryouts in different systems in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.
It is an important step for China to spread this perception to the whole country. The development of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone is considered to be the signal for the substantial reform of China and a way to unify the perception and understanding. How to co-ordinate the exploits of the free trade zone and spread them nationwide involves several governmental departments. If the job can be done smoothly， China will send out a signal to the outside world about its determination of reform.