Applying GATT to marketizing economies: the dilemma of WTO accession and reform of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs)

This article submits that a World Trade Organization in which China plays no part is a contradiction in terms, and that the international norms that the WTO represents will not be fully accepted until the institution embraces all nations. The WTO, by granting China special dispensation, would set a positive example that conforms with, not undermines, its goal of promoting increased wealth and stability through free trade. The issue is how to bring China into the fold in a manner that causes the least disruption to all concerned. This article explores the complex and dynamic interrelationship between the WTO and the individual sovereigns comprising its leading and aspiring members. It asserts that the multilateral institution is the best forum to encourage China to build the legal institutions to guide an open economy and ease its integration into the international trading order. The problem is that existing GATT exceptions do not provide sufficient relief and that there is a strong case for granting China special treatment.