Abstract
In 2005, China became an official member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) after finishing the term the WTO allowed it. China will face some problems that are demanded from the WTO. And also, China is in the process of working on them. However, I think that China has problems besides demands from the WTO and also, that these are more serious. This paper argues that China has three problems. The first problem is lack of human rights. The second problem is product counterfeiting. The third problem is pollution. So, I insist that we should not accept China’s affiliation.
China applied General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1986, which was a multilateral agreement to regulate trade among about 150 countries. The World Trade Organization (WTO) set up including documents of the GATT in January of 1995. The WTO is an international organization whose purpose is keeping world trade order; about 140 countries are affiliated with the WTO. In July of the same year, China began negotiating in order to become a member of the WTO. Finally, China formally became a member of the WTO in 2001. More recently, China finished the term in which it was an interim member of the WTO in 2005.
China will be confronted with problems about foreign trade. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, China should change its “uneven and incomplete” trade system to an open market by accepting the demands of the WTO (Collinson, 2003, par. 1). One of the problems that the WTO offers is about tariffs. But now, China tries to solve the problem of reducing tariffs, on such things as food crops, wool, and vegetable oils, gradually. Moreover, China worked on non-tariff barriers in agriculture. And also, according to some reports, foreign trade of China will expand; foreign trade of China will reach “15 percent this year to exceed 1.3 trillion US dollars” (Xinhua General News Service, 2005, par. 11). Actually, China’s affiliation makes the international markets bigger for signatory countries of the WTO, and also, some countries, such as the U.S. and Japan, have many factories in China. However, China has some difficult problems that are not solved related to the demands of the WTO; for example, there are counterfeit and a problem with currency conversion between the US and China (Collinson, 2003), and the fact that China has the lack of ability to negotiate about the change of international markets (Xinhua General News Service, 2005). I think that China has more serious problems besides the demands of the WTO. So, I consider that signatory countries of the WTO will be confronted with issues about China’s affiliation.
I disagree with China’s affiliation with the WTO because China should not be pressured to deal with these important issues before it is fully accepted into the WTO. The first issue is disregarding human rights. The second issue is forging other countries’ technology and their skills. The third issue is increasing environmental pollution. I think that Chinese government undervalues these issues; the only thing that fascinates the Chinese government is the economic growth of China. If China’s behavior does not change and the Chinese government continues to ignore these issues, we should kick China out from the WTO. China will not be our partner with the WTO. I insist that the WTO should not accept China for member of the WTO yet. We, signatory countries of the WTO, can use this opportunity to pressure China into necessary changes. When these problems are solved, we can permit China’s affiliation.
First, China should improve its human rights record. We should have liberty to live in this world, so I believe that all people in the world should have equal right. China is one of the communist countries. The Chinese government disregards human rights; therefore, many Chinese do not have freedom and their good social condition entirely. According to human-rights monitor John Kamm (Elliott, 2005), about 3,000 people are persecuted for nonviolent religious and governmental crimes every year; 58,000 people that consisted of workers, farmhands, and investors in the stock-market protested against everything like overtaxation in 2003; however, nobody could change party rules. According to Elliot, the human rights tend to become better; however, they are still controlled under the government (2005). In addition, the human rights of China has remained poor and the Chinese government keeps on committing “human rights abuses including torture, mistreatment of prisoners and denial of due process” (State news service, 2005, par. 4). According to O’Sullivan, senior adviser for Asia in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, it is still difficult for Chinese citizens to understand principles and rules exactly that were reinforced dogmatically by the Chinese government (State news service, 2005).
I think that the power of the Chinese government has become much stronger than the Chinese nation. In addition, almost all companies are owned by the Chinese government. If China’s foreign trade expands more, the power of the Chinese government will extend. I consider that these situations are a serious problem for China, especially Chinese citizens, because profits of foreign trade cause the Chinese government’s coercion of Chinese citizens to be stronger than now. We cannot help to increase the Chinese government’s power. We should reconsider China’s affliction with the WTO due to the fact that people of the world have freedom and equal rights.
Second, China should stop counterfeiting foreign technology. Signatory countries of the WTO suffer from China’s counterfeit due to lack of Chinese property rights. Nowadays, there have been increased foreign factories in China. Many countries have moved their factories to China, because labor wage is still lower. My country, Japan, also has many factories, such as electronics industries and apparel industries. In China, there are a lot of counterfeits; China can steal technological skill easily because regulations of counterfeit are still lax. Actually, some countries, such as Japan and the U.S., are damaged by Chinese pirating. According to Barton, U.S. representative, “more than 66% of counterfeit goods” come from China and also, there are many counterfeits and a lot of piracy (Congressional Testimony, 2005). So, China is infested with counterfeits. The U.S. deficits with China trade foresee over 160 billion dollars yearly trade (Becker, 2005). In addition, the U.S. president George W. Bush has failed to protect the U.S. industries from Chinese unfair trade (Becker, 2005).
Counterfeit of China is a severe and difficult problem for signatory countries with WTO, even though Chinese profits may grow. I think that counterfeit of China makes signatory countries unsatisfied or discontented. According to Brilliant (Becker, 2005, par.4), “China is public enemy No. 1 when it comes to theft of intellectual property rights” and “The Chinese made some great promises last year, but the situation has only worsened”. Moreover, Lee, the senior trade adviser for the union federation AFL-CIO, said that the Chinese government disregards international regulations that deal with problems of intellectual property; so, it keeps contented in spite of unmanaged promise (Becker, 2005). I consider that China will make more pirated material as it gets more high technology, because the Chinese government neglects counterfeit problems. So, I insist that China’s behavior for counterfeit is unfair business for signatory countries. Moreover, I think that signatory countries’ deficits with China trade will increase due to disregard of international rules. Therefore, I think that we should not accept China’s affiliation with the WTO before Chinese counterfeit problems are solved. I insist that the acceptance of China is not late after resolving this problem.
Third, China should reduce environmental pollution for our future. When the economy is developing, this creates some environment pollution inevitably. The uncontrolled development of Chinese economy makes various kinds of pollution, for example, deforestation, acid rain, and desertification (Sui, 2005). In addition, “seven biggest rivers and 25 out of its 27 major lakes” (Agence France Press, 2005, par. 6) that are Chinese waterways are polluted; “298 urban areas” (Agence France Press, 2005, par. 7) are damaged by acid rain came from using fossil fuels in order to generate electricity. Acid rain hurts trees, water, soil and so on. Moreover, the influence of acid rain caused by China will expand to other countries. In this case, China has a vast land and a large number of people, so environmental pollution made by the China will influence the environmental area on a global scale. There is another problem which is urban pollution. The urban pollution is an issue caused by fast growth. Although the Chinese economy is developing, according to statistics, “only one-third of the sewage and about 57 percent of the garbage generated in cities” (Agence France Press, 2005, par. 9) was managed. So, facilities for sewage and garbage are still insufficient. Recently, China is becoming one of the worst polluted countries.
However, according to state media report in March, even though the Chinese economic growth for 25 years has made a lot of pollution, “China’s spending on environmental protection will fall 30 percent short of targets for 2001-2005” (Sui, 2005, par. 10). Furthermore, according to Sui, local officials are forced to blind polluters by bribe in order to push on economic growth and maintain their job or promote their status (Sui, 2005). I think that the only important thing for the Chinese government is growing its economy. In the future, the environmental problem will increase as China continues to make environmental pollution. We must think about the environmental problems when an economy is growing. China should think about its environmental problems on ahead, instead of only considering the development of the Chinese economy, because these are irrevocable problems. So, I consider that we should regulate China’s behavior now.
In conclusion, I insist that the WTO should not accept China’s affiliation now because China has three problems that it must solve. These problems are lack of human rights, counterfeit of foreign technology, and pollution of the environment. I consider that China should solve them before entering the WTO because they are serious problems not only for China but also for signatory countries of the WTO. Even though Chinese and signatory countries’ economy will grow considerably, I feel that we will confront these issues someday no matter what we do. And also, I think that these issues will become more difficult and irrevocable than ever; therefore, resolving these issues promptly is important for our future. Moreover, I hope that China will solve these problems. Therefore, I think that we should not accept China’s affiliation with the WTO now and that China’s affiliation with the WTO after solving these problems is not too late for growing the Chinese economy. We should enforce a change in behavior on China. When these problems are on their way toward disappearing, we should admit China to be one of the WTO members.
Bibliography
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