China's strong economic performance has come as a surprise to those who predicted turbulence after its entry into the WTO a year ago. China's Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng says the country deserves praise for the progress it has made. He delivered the assessment in an address to a major investment conference in Beijing.
According to the minister, China has done much in the governmental reforms, rewriting more than 2,000 of the country's overseas trade regulations. In many fields, the government has retreated by abandoning old governmental approval procedures in favor of WTO guidelines.
A much more transparent legal system has led to an improved market economic environment. In a newly released report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, China has for the first time surpassed the United States as the world's top recipient of overseas direct investment in 2002, meaning that China has seen a daily increase in overseas direct investment of 150 million US dollars over this year.
Chinese economists say the changes in the government's role are the most noticeable since the country's WTO entry. Besides, no one can neglect the sharp reduction of the country's import tariffs from 15.3 percent to 12 percent on more than 5,000 kinds of goods. And the world talked much about the better off in the country's intellectual property rights protection last year.
Meanwhile, China has become more of a star in foreign trade affairs. Chinese firms are becoming more used to the fierce competition brought about by a more open market. They actively respond to anti－dumping charges, winning 80 percent of the cases in the American market alone. Though still in its infancy, China begins to use WTO rules to protect its domestic sectors by imposing punitive tariffs on steel and acrylics products.
The overseas media point out China has moderate successes in its first year as a WTO member. In a blue paper released in November, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicted that China's GDP growth rate will reach 8 percent by the year end, with the national revenue this year breaking the 10 trillion yuan, or about 1.25 trillion US dollar benchmark.
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