Introduction

As of 11 December 2001, China became a full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), after traversing a long and, some would say, tortured, fifteen-year accession path. I believe that this accession is the most significant activity in the WTO's seven-year life so far. The significance has many dimensions, and the ramifications are profound and extensive. For this chapter, I do not write as an expert on China, but only reflect contributions made about China by many renowned experts as well as by the other excellent chapters presented in this volume.

Of the many dimensions of the impact of China's accession, at least three stand out, namely: (1) the all-important and potentially profound impact of accession on China, its trade and economic policy, its governmental structure and its society; (2) the impact of the accession of China on the WTO itself; and (3) the impact of this event and subsequent Chinese activities on China's relationship to the rest of the world, and the consequent effect on geo-political structures and alignments generally. This chapter will focus only on the second of these dimensions, but clearly these different dimensions are intimately related to each other, as other chapters in this volume demonstrate.

This chapter is divided into two major substantive parts, followed by some conclusions. The first part outlines the landscape of our explorations, noting the global context of the WTO and trading relations generally, with which China will be participating more fully.