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Trade
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2000-05-23 18:07:00-04
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Big Changes coming to China with WTO Membership
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Not only goods will flow but western ideology with them, many jobs will be lost in inefficient state-run industries
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Although labor forces in the United States are trying to emphasize the number of American jobs that will be lost when China joins the World Trade Organization, pity the Chinese worker employed by an inefficient state-run industry. Millions of Chinese employed in such inefficient industries as agriculture and auto making will lose their jobs. However, the bet the Chinese leaders are making is that joining the world trade group will speed up market-oriented economic reforms and unprofitable state-run factories. Big benefits will come to the Chinese consumer, as foreign products at lower prices will be available. Chinese industry will also benefit from the lower cost of raw materials and equipment imported from overseas. Whether or not China gets the vote (early morning Asia time) in the US Congress, China will enter the WTO as it has reached bilateral trade agreements with all but five countries. A listing of changes that trade will bring to China include: Average import tariffs to fall to between 8%-10%
Limits on foreign insurance, banking and telecoms to be phased out
Quotas raised and tariffs lowered for agricultural products: dairy, citrus, meat, wheat , corn and soybeans
State monopolies on imports of oil, chemical fertilizers and silk to be given up
Preferred treatment for Chinese pharmaceutical, chemical, tobacco and liquor to be removed The cultural and ideological battle will heat up as the number of foreign films that will be shown in China will double to 20. The trade process will accelerate the liberalization that China has already been exposed to through computers and the Internet.
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