WTO s political impact on China

To China, the <<strong class="superseo">strong class="superseo">WTO admission is significant in two ways - opening up to as well as linking up with the global system. To deepen and widen the policy of opening up is to be expected, the most crucial impact lies in the changes that the Chinese system will undergo as a result of the WTO membership.

　　I think there will be unprecedented and far-reaching effects on China's political landscape in five areas.

　　Firstly, as China's media industry opens up and with greater cultural interactions with the West, Chinese will become more familiar with Western ideas and values. Western emphasis on competition and freedom will be extolled, particularly by Chinese intellectuals, entrepreneurs and young students, who are at the forefront of change.

　　Secondly, ideas upheld by the WTO, such as the free market economy and minimisation of government interference, will help boost China's progress towards a “limited government”。

　　They will also deal the remnants of the planned economy and the government system propping it up a final blow.

　　As Chinese become used to a “limited government” in the economic sphere, the demand will soon extend to the political arena where a “limited government” is equally desirable.

　　Thirdly, the WTO also requires “transparency” in areas like government administration and the judiciary.

　　The pressure the Chinese government gets from the WTO and the measures it adopts to make its policy more transparent, will hopefully help it identify gradually with the principle of “openness”, which should extend from economic to political decisions.

　　Fourthly, Chinese enterprises owned by the state and private individuals and foreign businesses will now be treated equally. This will stimulate the growth of private Chinese businesses.

　　Keen competition will see a large number of old and ineffective state-owned enterprises eliminated by private and foreign companies. Large-scale SOEs which manage to survive will gradually severe their close links with the government.

　　The growth of the private sector will boost the power of the community. Society's ability to act as a check on the government will increase and there will also be many opportunities for a civil society to evolve. All these are no doubt conducive to democratisation.

　　Lastly, the need for a transparent and fair legal system will compel China to quicken the reform of its judiciary. This will help promote an independent and transparent judiciary which will have a more effective role keeping an eye on the government. A prerequisite of legal reform is separation of the government and the judiciary.

　　If the WTO entry can help speed up legal reform, there will be reasons to be optimistic about the advent of the rule of law which will, in turn, bring about democracy.

　　Even though China's ascension to the WTO is not without domestic political risks, Beijing seems confident that it has everything firmly under its thumb. Given its means of control, it is unlikely to allow the political impact of its WTO entry to lead to chaos.

　　（The writer is a postgraduate student of Peking University, China. Translated by Yap Gee Poh.）

　　入世对中国政治生态的冲击● 孙文后

　　加入世贸组织,对中国来说,最重要的意义有二：一曰开放；二曰与国际接轨。但是开放的深化和扩大仅仅是浅层次的意义,入世对于中国制度变革的意义才是最为重要的。

　　依笔者之见,入世对于中国政治发展的影响主要表现在五个方面：

　　一、入世后,随着传媒业的逐渐开放和对外文化交流增多,西方的思想、价值观念将更为中国人所熟知,西方的竞争精神和自由理念将逐渐为中国人特别是处于开放前沿的知识分子、企业界人士和青年学生所推崇。

　　二、世贸组织秉持的自由市场经济和减少政府干预的理念,有助于推动中国的“有限政府”和进程。

　　由于世贸组织是奉行自由市场经济的,要求政府尽量减少对经济的干预。这将给中国的计划经济残余以最后的一击,也将对计划经济条件下形成的政府职能体系形成莫大的冲击。

　　政府大大减少对经济事务的干预,有利于中国人普遍接受“有限政府”的观念。“有限政府”毕竟不能只停留在经济领域,在政治领域,政府的职能也应该是有限的。

　　三、世贸组织的规则要求行政和司法等各领域要具有“透明度”,有助于“公开性”的原则被接受。中国政府部门受到的增强透明度的压力及其采取的一些增强透明度的措施,但愿能使它们逐渐认同“公开性”原则,并由经济政策的透明进而达致政治决策的透明。

　　四、加入世贸组织,要求给予民营企业与国有企业和外资企业同等的“国民待遇”,这将刺激中国民营企业的发展。

　　由于国有企业机制陈旧和积累的问题,在入世后的激烈竞争中将有相当一部分被淘汰,私营企业或外企就取而代之。而存活下来的大型国有企业在激烈的市场竞争中,也将逐渐与政府脱离关系。

　　民营企业的非政府性质,必将使中国的民间力量更加壮大,社会对政府的制衡日益加强,公民社会也将获得更好的发展机遇,这无疑是有利于政治民主化的。

　　五、加入世贸组织,要求中国建立透明公正的法律体系。这将迫使中国司法制度进行改革,推进司法独立和司法公开,加大对行政权力的制衡。中国为入世在司法领域的改革也在紧锣密鼓中进行。

　　司法需要独立于行政,甚至要站在行政的对立面。如果中国的司法改革能够借入世之机获得推进,那么法治的实现也就有了一个乐观的前景。法治实现之时,也将是民主建立之日。

　　入世对中国政府来说,毕竟是有一定的政治风险。但中国政府似乎相信能控制局面,以政府目前所拥有的政治控制手段,是绝不致于让入世对政治生活的冲击泛滥的。

　　。作者是北京大学研究生