Baylis,, Smith and

d Owens: T
The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Case Study:
S Chi nas WTO Accessionn, 2001
IR Theorry in Practtice Case Study: Ch
hina's WTO
O Accessiion, 2001

Section 1

R Theory and
Realist IR a China
a's WTO A
Accession

From read ding Chapters 6 and 8 of The G Globalizatioon of Worldd Politics ((6e.), you should
s
now be fa amiliar with
h the basic tenets of RRealist Inte
ernational Relations ttheory. Yo ou are
advised too consult thhese cruciial chapters
rs if you have not don
ne so alreaady as theirr contents
will not be
e repeated d here. In addition,
a yo
ou may find d Chapters
s 16 and 277 useful forr this
case stud dy.

Where yo ou see braccketed cha

apter refere
ences, for example (s see Ch.4), this refers
s to the
relevant cchapter in The
T Globalization of World Politics (6e.).

Introducttion

In additionn to readin
ng this secttion, you s hould conssult the Lib
beral, Consstructivist, and
Marxist an nd Post-coolonial theo
ory sectionns of the ca
ase study forf importaant alternatives to
Realism. The purpo ose of this section
s is tto suggest ways in which
w the innsights you u will have
learnt from
m Chapter 6 of The Globalizatio
G on of Worlld Politics (6e.)
( illustra
rate important
aspects o of China's accession
a to the WTO O from a Realist
R pers
spective. B By no means can
the follow
wing be an exhaustive e survey off the possible ways Realist
R inteernational theory
t
might help p you thinkk about the
e case.

In this casse study we

w will brieffly focus on
n: 1) the debate ove
er the "risee of China
a," and 2)
the role oof internattional insttitutions a nd great power
p rela
ations.

Rise of China"
1) The "R

Since the 1990's, th he commun nity of Chinna scholars s and polic

cymakers predomin nantly
those in th
he United States have been e engaged in n a debate over the cconsequennces of
the so-called "rise of
o China" as a great p power. Some analysts, followinng realist th
heories
about powwer transitiions, suggeest that ass China's power grow ws, conflict between the PRC
and the currently he egemonic United
U Stattes is inevitable. Oth
her analystts, howeve
er, are
more optimistic thatt potential conflict
c cann be avoided (for a ra
ange of oppinions abo
out
China's risse, see the
e essays inn Brown 20 000; see also Roy 19 996).

Box 1.1: John Mea

arsheimer on the Ris
se of Chin
na
China can nnot rise peacefully, and if it co
ontinues its
s dramatic economic growth over the
next few d decades, the United States and d China aree likely to engage
e in an intense e security
competitio on with con
nsiderable potential ffor war. Moost of Chin na's neighbbours, incluuding
India, Jap
pan, Singap pore, Soutth Korea, R Russia and d Vietnam, will likely jjoin with th
he United
States to contain Ch hina's power.
Brzzezinski an
nd Mearsheimer, 200 05

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Eventuallyy, these sccholars pre

edict, the sshift in pow
wer between the Uniteed States and
a China
will produce new alliances and d a high prrobability of
o conflict between
b thee two counntries.
Some pattterns of Chinese eco onomic inte eraction, however, ruun counter to these re
ealist
prediction
ns:

Box 1.2: Chinese Economic

E Interactio
on and Ba
alance of Power
P
If China wwere balancing against the Unitted States because of o the channge in polarity, one
should alsso see Chiina trying to reduce itts economic depende ence on thhe United States.
S If a
state percceives thatt the relativ
ve gains off economic c interaction may be uused to de evelop the
military po
ower of potential adv versaries, tthen it has an interest in reducinng its trade
e with
these advversaries and
a in diverrsifying its economic linkages with w more sstrategicallly reliable
partners. China's dependen nce on US marks has s increasedd, not decrreased, sinnce 1991."
Joh
hnston, quuoted in Kim m, 1998, pp. 65-6.

Johnston further nottes that US S-China traade does notn display the negat ive correla ation
between ttrade depe endence an nd military expenditures that on ne would eexpect under
neorealistt prediction
ns (Ibid). And
A for its own part, China appears to be attempting g to
deliberate
ely manage e US perce eptions of iits rise. In 2003, Chinese leadeers began using the
term "peaaceful rise" or "peaceful develop pment" to refer
r to the
eir foreign aand econo
omic
policy.

Box 1.3: Wen Jiaba

ao on China's "Pea ceful Rise
e"
[China's rrise] will no
ot come at the cost off any otherr country, will
w not sta nd in the way
w of any
other country, nor pose a threat to any o other counttry.
Ch
hinese Prem
mier Wen Jiabao,
J qu
uoted in Pa
an, 2006

Elements of the 'peaaceful rise' policy havve included d settling border

b dispputes, incre
easing
economicc relations, and joining multilate eral econom mic organizzations ssuch at thee WTO
with an eyye toward creating a favourable e internatio
onal enviro
onment for China's co ontinued
economicc developmment. It rem mains to be e seen whe ether thesee conflict-m
mitigation
mechanissms will mittigate realiist predictio
ons about the potenttial for confflict.

2) Great P
Power Relations an
nd Internattional Insttitutions

Realist theory accorrds great prominence

p e in its ana e relations hips betwe
alysis to the een great
powers. R Realists beelieve that the internaational env vironment isi fundameentally ana archic and
driven by self-help, in which in nternationa al institution
ns cannot provide seecurity. Thus, while
liberal or institutiona
alist theory
y sees interrnational in nstitutions as capablee of changing the
interests oof the state
es that parrticipate in them, realists tend to o believe thhat institutions are
only effecctive when the interes sts of the g
great powe ers participating in theem align with
w each

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Case Study:
S Chi nas WTO Accessionn, 2001
other and with the goals
g of the
e organizattion. Many
y scholars of
o Chinesee foreign po
olicy
believe th
hat China still
s views the world in n these rea
alist terms.

Box 1.4: China's View

V of the
e Internatio
onal Envirronment
[For the P
People's Re
epublic of China], thee world is, in the main
n, a threateening plac
ce where
security a
and materia
al interests
s are best p
preserved through se elf-help or unilateral security.
s
Ala
astair Iain Johnston,
J quoted in E
Economy, 2001, p. 234
2

on questio
Discussio on

What are the implica

ations of th
he realist in
nterpretatio
on of Chine
ese foreignn and econ
nomic
policy?

In answerring this quuestion, emmphasizing g the relatio

ons betwee en great poowers, rea alists
might note e that the largest
l obs
stacle to C
China's WTO accessio on was US S reluctanc ce to
compromise the term ms of the American-l
A led global economic order. Thee 1999 US--China
bilateral a
agreement, therefore, was the kkey enable er of China's WTO acccession (P Pearson,
2001, p. 3337). Addiitionally, ec
conomic de evelopmen nt, participaation in insstitutions, and
a
acceptancce of interd dependenc ce are all vviewed by Chinese
C le
eaders as a tool for
strengthening the na ational eco
onomy (Joh hnston, qu
uoted in Mo oore and Y Yang, 2001, p. 225).
Adjustments made by b China to o accord wwith WTO regulations
r s, thereforee, stem nott from
internaliza
ation of glo
obal coope eration andd free mark ket norms, but from a pragmatic c desire to
avoid pun nishment by the globa al hegemo on, the Unitted States (Economyy, p. 240).

Realist theory also generally

g maintains
m tthat states will participate in inteernational
institutions only whe en participa ation bring gs relative as
a well as absolute ggains (or, at a least,
does not provide oth her states with relativve gains th hat will disa
advantage China). Ellizabeth
Economy notes thatt in two cas ses convventions on n ozone de epletion annd climate change
China insists on reg gimes that do not hind der econom mic develo opment or iinfringe on n
sovereign nty, but which also do o not alloww advanced d industrial countries to increase their
technolog gical and economic advantagess any more e (Economy y, 2001 p. 251). Alth hough the
WTO is often consid dered prim marily in lighht of the ab
bsolute eco onomic ga ins provide ed by
accession n, China's insistence that Taiwa an not be allowed
a to join
j beforee Beijing (F
Feeney,
1998, p. 2257), which h delayed the t accesssion of both h parties could be reaad instead d as an
example o of the priorritization off relative g
gains.

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 Baylis,, Smith and
d Owens: T
The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Case Study:
S Chi nas WTO Accessionn, 2001
IR theorry in Practtice Case S
Study: Ch
hina's WTO
O Accessiion, 2001

Section 2

R Theory and
Liberal IR a China
a's WTO A
Accession

From read ding Chapters 7 and 8 of The G Globalizatioon of Worldd Politics ((6e.), you should
s
now be fa amiliar with
h the basic tenets of LLiberal Inte
ernational Relations ((IR) theory y. You are
advised too consult thhese cruciial chapters
rs if you have not donne so alreaady as theirr contents
will not be
e repeated d here. In addition,
a yo
ou may find d Chapterss 16 and 277 useful forr this
case stud dy.

Where yo ou see braccketed cha

apter refere
ences, for example (s see Ch.4), this refers
s to the
relevant cchapter in The
T Globalization of World Politics (6e.).

Introducttion

The previous section of this ca ase study e explored thhe relationship betweeen realist theory
and China a's accession to the WTO.
W Thee purpose of
o this section is to suuggest way ys in
which thee insights you
y will hav ve learnt fro
rom Chapte ers 7 and 8 of The G Globalization of
World Pollitics (6e.) illustrate im
mportant a aspects of the
t China's s WTO acccession fro om a
Liberal pe
erspective. In addition n to this se
ection, therrefore, you
u should coonsult the Realist,
R
Constructtivist, and Marxist
M and Post-colo onial theorry sections
s of the casse study fo
or
importantt alternative
es, and should be aw ware that thhe following can by nno means serve
s as
an exhausstive surve ey of the po ossible wa ays Liberal internationnal theory might helpp you think
about the case.

t benefi ts of free trade,

In this casse, we will focus briefly on: 1) tthe liberal belief in the
and 2) the e importan nce of mu ultilateral iinstitution
ns, particuularly in th
he econom
mic realm.

1) Interde
ependence
e and Free
e Trade

A liberal a
analysis off China's acccession too the WTO O would foc cus on the links betw ween trade
opennesss, developm ment, and cooperativve international relatio ons, particcularly in a
globalizedd environmment. As Chapter
C 7n noted, since the ninetteenth cenntury many liberal
theorists h
have argue ed that trad
de createss mutual ga ains for all countries iinvolved;
globalizattion has inccreased the opportun nity cost off non-partic
cipation annd created
incentivess for econoomic openn ness (Friedden and Ro ogowski, inn Keohanee and Milne er, 1996).
The 'harmmony of inte erests' shaared by all countries in preserving these ggains will dampen
d
conflict an
nd make fo or a more peaceful
p w
world.

Box 2.1: Liberal theory and Chinese b

behaviour
As long as China's leaders
l vie
ew securityy at least partially
p in terms
t of suustained ec
conomic
growth, B
Beijing will be
b inclinedd to mainta
ain positivee relations with
w as maany countries as

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S Chi nas WTO Accessionn, 2001
possible in order to take full ad
dvantage o
of the bene
efits that ac
ccrue from
m wider parrticipation
in the worrld econom
my.
Mo
oore and Yang,
Y 2001, p. 226

In 2005, fformer National Secu urity Adviso or Zbigniew w Brzezinski espouseed a simila ar belief,
writing thaat the need d to sustain n economi c growth would
w exertt a moderaating effectt on
Chinese fforeign policy (Brzeziinksi and M Mearsheim mer, 2005). The mitiggating effec ct of free
trade and democraccy on intern national co onflict is a hallmark of the liberaal tradition of
political th
heory. It iss this belieff that has led many liiberal analysts of Ch ina's WTO O
accession n to repeattedly stress s the mutu al gains to o be realize
ed in Chinaa's accessiion
(Rumbaug gh and Bla ancher, 200 04: p. 12).

Box 2.2: The Benefits of Com

mmerce: U
US-China Business
s Council
Neither side will ben
nefit from protectionis
p st measurees, and tho
ose of us w
who supporrt trade
and invesstment musst continue e to speak to policymakers and the generaral public in
n both
countries about the benefits of trade and d investme
ent to our re
espective eeconomies s. At the
same time e, we mustt demonstrrate that diialogue and engagem ment can ssuccessfully resolve
problems, so that prrotectionistt measuress can be avoided.
a
Friisbie, 2006
6

The bene efits of econ

nomic partticipation a
are particularly pronounced in aan age of marked
m
economicc globalizattion. In addition to offfering China mutual gains baseed in econ nomic
interdependence, ho owever, many liberall theorists and thos
se in favou r of liberalization
within China itself - also sugge
est that Chhina's WTO O accession will makee the coun ntry's
nships morre peacefu
international relation ul by promooting the de
evelopmennt of a morre liberal
domestic system of governanc ce inside CChina.

Box 2.3: Liberalizin

ng China
Liberals a
also came to t see WT TO membe rship as a way to ach hieve theirr domestic reform
agenda. PParticularlyy in the seccond half o
of the [1990
0s], they reecognized that China a's
membership would allow them m to use W
WTO rules as a leverage e to press ffor further trade
reforms aagainst recaalcitrant local governnments and d foreign trrade corpoorations.
Pe
earson, 200
01, p. 360, fn. 45

2) Multila
ateral (eco
onomic) In
nstitutions
s and liberral theory

The more e recent variant of libe

eral theoryy, neolibera
al institutionalism (seee Ch. 8) fo ocuses on
the role of internatio
onal economic institu tions in shaping Chin na's relatioons with its
international environnment. As s Elizabeth Economy notes, China's particcipation in

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international organizzations inc
creased fro
om 21 in 19
977 to 52 in 1997 (Laampton, 20
001, p.
230).

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Box 2.4: China's participatio

on in interrnational institutions
International regime
es and the process off establishing interna ational regi mes may influence
i
the manner in whichh a particip
pant formullates foreig
gn policy. Such
S influeence is impportant for
several re
easons: the
e transmiss sion of new
w ideas annd knowledge from thhe international
communitty can conttribute to the learning
g process and to cha anges in beehavioural norms by
e requirement of the regime ma
domestic actors, the ay result in the prolifeeration of new
n
domestic actors or the
t establis shment of new burea aucratic linkages thatt will influence policy
mes often provide tra
outcomess, and regim aining oppoortunities, financial trransfers, and
technologgical advan
nces that enable policcy change.
Elizzabeth Eco
onomy, 20
001, p. 236
6

Liberal the eorists arg

gue that intternational institutions are impoortant becaause they enable
e
countries to realize untapped potential m mutual gain ns (see Section 1 on interdepen ndence).
They do sso by creatting iterated (rather th han one-tim me) patterns of interaaction, enaabling
countries to share in nformation, and mak ing the cos st of defecttion from ccommitmen nts
known; in sum, this lowers transaction ccosts and re einforces reciprocal
r bbehaviour..
Neolibera al thinkers, therefore, point to thhe role of thhe WTO and its preddecessor (tthe
General A Agreementt on Tariffs s and Trade e, GATT) as a an "international reegime [creeated] to
facilitate ttrade amon ng its memmbers by de eveloping rules on re eciprocity, nnon-discrim
mination,
and transparency an nd by sponnsoring pe riodic multtilateral trad
de negotiaations" (Fee eney,
1998, p. 2 255).

China, wh hich has exxpanded its

s participa tion in inte
ernational trade sincee the 1970's, first
indicated interest in joining GA
ATT in 198 86 (Robinso on, 1998, p.
p 204). Inn doing so, it has
accepted the neoliberal "Wash hington co nsensus" model
m of growth rath er than adhering to
the state-led "East Asian
A deve
elopment m model" of economic
e growth
g (Mooore, 2002, p. 305,
311). Liberal theorists see Ch hina's willin
ngness to accede
a to WTO
W restrrictions for the sake
of long-term econom mic gains, as well as the appare ent normattive accepttance of ne eoliberal
economicc ideology, as supporrt for their ttheories.

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 Baylis,, Smith and
d Owens: T
The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Case Study:
S Chi nas WTO Accessionn, 2001
IR Theorry in Practtice Case Study: Ch
hina's WTO
O Accessiion, 2001

Section 3

onstructiv
Social Co vist Theory
y and Chin
na's WTO Accessio
on

From read ding Chapter 10 of TheT Globaliization of World

W Politics (6e.), yyou shouldd now be
familiar w
with constru
uctivist theoory in Interrnational Relations
R (IR). You arre advised to consultt
this crucia
al chapter if you havee not done e so already y as its conntents will not be reppeated
here. In a
addition, maaterial in Chapters
C 166 and 27 may
m be use eful for thiss case stud
dy.

Where yo ou see braccketed cha

apter refere
ences, for example (s see Ch.4), this refers
s to the
T Globalization of World Politics (6e.).
relevant cchapter in The

Introducttion

In addition
n to this se
ection you should con nsult the Realist,
R Libe
eral, Marxiist, and Poost-
colonial th
heory sectiions of the case stud dy for impoortant alternnatives to cconstructiv
vism. The
purpose o of this secttion is to su
uggest wayys in which h the insighhts you wil l have learrnt from
Chapter 1 10 of The Globalizatio
G on of Worlld Politics (6e)
( illustra
ate importaant aspectss of
China's WWTO accesssion from constructivvist theoretical persp pectives. Ass with the previous
section, b
by no mean ns can the following b be an exha austive surrvey of the possible ways
w
social connstructivism
m might he elp you thin
nk about China's
C accession.

In this casse, we will briefly focus on: 1) tthe social constructtion of thee "China th
hreat,"
and 2) de ebates ove er China's changing g identity.

1) Constrructing the "China Threat"

T

Constructtivists mainntain that social

s normms and iden ntities mattter; they shhape and constrain
c
state beha aviour. Constructivists investigaate the soc
cially constructed conntext of thrreats,
challengin ng the domminant realist approacch, which holds
h that ideas, norm ms and culture have
little or no
o independdent effect on militaryy threats (w
which for re
ealists is deetermined by a
straightforward asse essment off opponentts' material power ca apabilities aand intentio
ons).
Constructtivists sugggest that id
dentities annd norms innfluence how interessts come to o be
defined.

Noting a sstrong corrrelation between soccial identific cation and threat percception,
constructiivists positt that the attribution to
o China off a negative e "Other" iddentity exp
plains the
presence and persisstence of fear f of Chinna and perrceived pottential for cconflict. In
ndeed,
many Chinese officiials argue that the "C China threa at" is an un
nfairly prejuudiced conception of
the country's interessts, based not only o n an inacc curate repreesentationn of the couuntry's
material ccapabilitiess but a prejjudiced ideea of its interests andd intentionss; indeed, an
a
impugning g of its "intternational character"" (Deng, in n Johnston and Ross , p. 186).

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Box 3.1: Chinese Identity an

nd the 'Ch ina Threatt'
What do yyou see? A cuddly pa
anda, or a menacing dragon?
Pe
eter Hayes Gries, in Johnston
J a
and Ross, p.
p 309

According g to social psychology, in-group p identifica

ation and po ositivity leaad to inter--group
competitioon and con nflict only when
w comp parisons be etween the e in-group and out-grroup are
zero-sum (Gries in Johnston
J and
a Ross, p. 313). Thus, T whenn China's pprogress is seen to
come at AAmerica's expense,
e perceptions
p s of the 'Chhina threatt' are heighhtened. WhenW
America a and China are seen as a having a joint interest in an issue,
i howwever, the
relationsh
hip is perceeived as more coope rative. In that t light, Washingto
W on's call forr China to
behave ass a "responsible stak keholder" inn the internnational en nvironmentt through
mechanissms such as a WTO pa articipation shows its concern withw the effeect of an nd its
direct app
peal to asspects of Chinese
C ide
entity that stress cau ution and coooperation n
(Zoellick)..

ges in Chiina's Identtity

2) Debatting Chang
In contrasst to realistts, who arg
gue that ma aterial facttors (such as
a econom mic and millitary
power) arre the mostt importantt determina ates of foreeign policyy, constructtivists argu
ue that
ideas, norrms, and culture
c play
y an indepe endent role e in shapinng perceptiions and outcomes.
Ideas cann transform m world politics in far--reaching ways,
w including by shhaping the identity
and intereests of stattes. Identitty and norm mative exp pectations structure ssocial interraction at
the international levvel.

Thus, con nstructivist explanatio na's participation in th

ons of Chin he WTO seee WTO
participatiion as one facet reprresenting thhe recent evolution
e in
n China's iidentity and
d its
conceptio on of its relationship with
w the ou utside worldd. This is not to sugggest that normative
considera ations were e completeely absent bbeforehand d; Alastair Iain Johnsston notes that
China's ad dherence to t the normm of sovereeignty "pro
ovides more insights into Chine ese foreign
policy thaan any tend dency to baalance powwer in the neorealist
n sense"
s (Joohnston in Kim, p.
73). Rath her, howevver, the norrmative strructures guuiding Chinnese foreiggn policy haave
shifted fro
om ones sttressing protection off Chinese sovereignt
s y from incuursion to one
o
stressing China's im mage as a responsible
r e leader in
n world politics.

Chinese oofficials have stresseed that onee major bennefit of China's WTO membership is that
it may hellp to dispel notions of the "Chin
na threat," replacing iti with a "C
China oppoortunity"
theory and bolsterinng the imagge of the coountry (Deeng in Johnnston and K Kim, p. 201).

Box 3.2: Evolution

ns in Chine
ese Identitty
[Over the 1980s an
nd 1990s,] the traditio
onal soverreign-centric, autonom mous majoor power
identity has been uneasily liinked to a newer iden ntity as a responsiblee major power, one
whose staatus is mea
asured in part
p by parrticipation in institutions that inccreasingly regulate
state beha
aviour.
Ala
astair Iain Johnston
J in
n Kim, p. 7
77

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Thus, sch holars note

e that, "contemporaryy Chinese foreign
f policy has co untered itss negative
reputationn through both
b rhetorrical and su
ubstantial commitme
c nts to buildding a cooperative,
responsib ble image in the international soociety" (De
eng in John nston and R Ross, p. 18
87).
Concretelly, some believe thatt China helld off devaluing its Yu uan duringg Asian Financial
Crisis in 1
1997 in larg
ge part in order
o to de
emonstratee its role as
s a "'responnsible' eco
onomic
power" (P Pearson p. 344).

Constructtivist scholars concurr that beha aviour has changed, butb are nott unanimou us in their
conceptio on of the exxtent to wh
hich China''s participa
ation reflects a fundammental cha
ange in
identity. OOn the onee hand exissts the vieww that Chinna underw went a paraadigm shift during
the post-11976 Reforrm Era. Sc ceptics, ho
owever, strress that deespite incre
reased partticipation,
Chinese a attitudes re
emain amb bivalent (Ecconomy, p. 232).

Box 3.3: China's Perception

P of Interna
ational Ins
stitutions (I)
In the late
e 1970s an nd early 1980s there was just such a genu uine adopttion of idea
as on the
part of refformers in the Chines se leaders hip responnsible for fo
oreign eco nomic policy. This
change in n outlook, which
w was significantt enough too warrant the
t label pparadigm shift,
s went
far beyond Chinas WTOW acceession. It in
nvolved the
e basic acc ceptance oof compara ative
advantage e as a global law rather than a tool of ca
apitalism and the conncomitant
acceptancce of trade e and mark kets as legiitimate and
d beneficiaal for Chinaas develop
pment
Ma
argaret Pea
arson, p. 354
3

Box 3.4: China's perception of Interna

ational Ins
stitutions (II)
Chinese eelites are suspicious
s of many m multilateral organizatio
ons, includding those devoted
to econommic, environmental, non-prolifer
n ration, and
d regional security
s isssues. In mo
ost cases,
China join
ns such orgganizationss to avoid losing facee and influe
ence Chhinese analysts
often view
w internatio
onal organizations annd their universal norrms as fronnts for otheer powers.
Thomas Chriistensen, p.
p 37

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 Baylis,, Smith and
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The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Case Study:
S Chi nas WTO Accessionn, 2001
IR Theorry in Practtice Case Study: Ch
hina's WTO
O Accessiion, 2001

Section 4

Marxist a
and Post-c
colonial Th
heory and
d China's WTO
W Acce
ession

From read ding Chapters 9 and 12 of The Globalizattion of World Politicss (6e.), you u should
now be fa h the basic tenets of M
amiliar with Marxist and Alternatiive Internattional Relaations (IR)
theories. You are addvised to consult
c thesse crucial chapters iff you have not done so
already, a
as their con
ntents will not be rep
peated here e. In additio
on, materiaal in Chaptters 16
and 27 may be usefful for this case studyy.

Where yo ou see braccketed cha

apter refere
ences, for example (s see Ch.4), this refers
s to the
relevant cchapter in The
T Globalization of World Politics (6e.).

Introducttion

n to this se
In addition ection you should con nsult the Realism,
R Libberalism, aand Constrructivism
sections oof the casee study for important alternative es to the th
heories disccussed here. The
purpose o of this secttion is to su
uggest wayys in whichh the insigh
hts you wil l have learrnt from
Chapters 9 and 12 of o The Glo obalization of World Politics
P (6e.) illustratee importantt aspects
of China'ss accession to the WTO from M Marxist andd alternative theoreticcal perspec ctives. As
with the p
previous se ection, by non means ccan the following be an exhausstive survey of the
possible wways altern native theo ories mightt help you think
t about the accesssion process.

We will brriefly focuss on 1) the influence

e of coloniial history
y on Chineese foreign
n policy,
and 2) Chhina's warriness of global
g cap
pitalism as
s an unjust and exp loitative
enforcemment of We estern inteerest.

1) China's Colonia
al History and
a Soverreignty

A theoristt viewing Chinese

C forreign policyy through a post-colo
onial lens m
might stres
ss that its
actions arre based, more
m than any other guiding prrinciple, on the defencce of soveereignty -
for the Pe
eople's Reppublic of China
C and mmore generally (Johnnston in Kimm, pp. 72-33; see
also Carlsson). This emphasis on defend ding Chinaa from foreign incursioon has roo
ots in
China's re
ecent histoorical past.

Box 4.1: China's Colonial

C Hiistory
The belieffs and attittudes of the informal Chinese iddeology tend to be siimilar to those of the
formal ideeology, esppecially witth regard to
o China's sense
s of viictimizationn at the ha
ands of the
imperialisst powers.
Su
utter, p. 184
4

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 Baylis,, Smith and
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The Globa
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S Chi nas WTO Accessionn, 2001
Resistancce to foreig
gn occupattion was a key compo onent in the struggle for legitim
macy
between tthe Guomindang or Nationalist
N Party, and
d the Chineese Comm munist Party y. In
1949, Mao Zedong famously stood
s in Tia
ananmen Square
S and proclaimmed, "China a has
stood up,"" a phrase repeated much morre recently,, when then-presidennt Jiang Ze emin
visited Ha
arvard Univversity.

Box 4.2: "China Ha

as Stood Up"
U
Our ancesstors alwayys regarde ed the spiriit of mainta
aining independence as the fou undation
of a nation. China has all along maintainned its cultural traditioon without letup in the history
of several thousand d years. In modern timmes, the freequent bulllying and hhumiliationn by
imperialisst powers once
o weake ened Chin a. Howeve er, after 100 years off struggle, China
C has
stood up a again as a giant.
Jia
ang Zemin, 1997

In econommic terms, this ideoloogy, called a "mercan ntilist strain

n of econom
mic nationa alism"
was "mosst concerne ed to see the control of China's s economy remain in Chinese hands.
h
not be tra
ampled on the
t way it was perce eived to hav ve been affter the Oppium Wars of the
nineteenth century."" Within Ch hina, there
efore, oppo onents of accession ooften frame ed their
argumentts in the tra
aditional terms of unccompromis sed sovereignty, sugggesting tha at certain
protocols of accessiion would open
o Chin a to foreign exploitattion and deestabilizatio
on
(Pearson,, p. 359, 36
63).

2) China's Percepttion of Glo

obal Capita
alism

A view of China's WTO

W accession inform med by crittical and Marxist theoory might fo
ocus on
the ways in which China's
C acccession wa as driven byy exploitative pressuure from moore
powerful ccommerciaal actors. Chinese
C poolicymakerrs expressed concernn after China's
GATT acccession prooposal was s rejected in 1994 that the Unitted States was waitinng for the
launch of the WTO to
t impose more strin ngent rules on China (Pearson, p. 342).

Box 4.3: WTO Accession an

nd Chinese
e Vulnerab
bility
". Bilate
eral U.S. trrade action
ns on markket access issues, intellectual pproperty rig ghts,
prison lab
bour exportts, and texxtile fraud. Indeed, it is
i preciselyy this kind of interdep
pendence
that Chinaa arguablyy fears mosst. From th e formerly annual de ebate over American renewal
of China'ss most-favo oured-natio
on status ((now called d normal trrade relatioons) to
Washington's influence over Beijing's
B acccession too the WTO, vulnerabiility to policcy
influence by great powers
p succh as the UUnited State es and the
e Europeann Union ha as long
been a major conce ern of Chinese leaderrs."
Mo
oore and Yang,
Y p. 19
95

Many Marxist readin

ngs of Chin na's accesssion would
d also focus on the exxtent to wh
hich the
U.S. gove
ernment haas facilitate
ed the PRCC's accession to help
p further Am
merican co orporate

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 Baylis,, Smith and
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The Globa
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Case Study:
S Chi nas WTO Accessionn, 2001
interests. This is pa
artly becau
use the relaationship between
b private corpoorations an
nd state
policy is e
evolving an
nd accordinngly less aambiguous under China's continnually marketizing
economy;; although some com mpanies rem main state-owned en nterprises, the governnment has
in many ccases divessted and business in terests hav med the saame organized
ve not form
domestic lobbying groups
g as exert
e influe
ence in the
e United States.

Box 4.4: Relationship betwe

een U.S. go
overnmen
nt and bus
siness inteerests
"U.S. stakkeholders were
w signifficantly mo
ore satisfied with Chinna's WTO performan nce in
2004 thann in the pre
evious two years th he Adminis stration is fully
f comm
mitted to woorking with
China to eensure tha
at the benefits of Chinna's WTO membersh hip are reallized by U..S.
workers, bbusinessmmen, farmers, service providers, and consumers."
United States Tra
ade Repres
sentative, 2004 Repo
ort, pp. 4,8
8

There is n
no doubt th
hat elemen nts of the U
United States governm ment see tthemselves s as
acting to p
promote US
U business interestss overseas, or at leas st to allow aan environment in
which thoose businessses can compete
c in what the US
U perceiv ves is a fai r environm
ment.
Pearson, however, notes that part of Ch hina's econ
nomic reforrms begun in the 197 70's
included ""acceptancce of comp parative addvantage as a 'global law' ratheer than a to ool of
capitalism
m" (p. 354).. In July 2004, the UUnited State
es and four other WT TO membe ers
objected tto the PRC
C's policy of
o applying a value-ad dded tax ono importedd semi-con nductor
makers. It remains to be seen n how futurre adjudica
ations will go
g and how w these will be
perceivedd by Chinesse policym makers.

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 Baylis,, Smith and
d Owens: T alization of World Pol itics 6e
The Globa
Case Study:
S Chi nas WTO Accessionn, 2001
IR Theorry in Practtice Case Study: Ch
hina's WTO
O Accessiion, 2001

Web links
s

http://www
w.chinabussinessrevie ew.com/ten
n-years-of--wto-memb bership/
A review oof ten yearrs of WTO membersh hip by US--China Bus siness Couuncil (USCBC)
Presidentt John Frisbie, with co
ommentaryy on beneffits, challen
nges, and the next te
en years.

www.wto..org/Englissh/thewto_e e/countriess_e/china__e.htm
Part of the
e WTO we ebsite, this page conttains inform
mation on China's
C paarticipation in the
organization, including the proocess of acccession.

http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/
The webssite of the Chinese
C Ministry
M of C
Commerce
e's Departm
ment of WT
TO Affairs.

http://new
ws.bbc.co.u
uk/1/hi/business/1548 8866.stm
BBC New ws story on the China
a entering tthe WTO, from
f Septe
ember 20001.

www.cid.hharvard.eddu/cidtrade/issues/acccessions.hhtml
This webssite by Harrvard's Cen
nter for Inte
ernational Developm
ment providdes an overrview of
the WTO accession n process.

www.whittehouse.go ov/news/releases/200
01/11/2001
11111-1.httml
Text of Prresident Bu
ush's rema
arks upon C
China and Taiwan's accession
a to the WT
TO in
Novembe er 2001.

www.usccc.gov/
The US-C China Econ nomic and Security R
Review Com mmission has
h held h earings on
n China's
participatiion in the WTO
W and US-China
U ttrade relations.

https://ww
ww.uschina..org/china-h
hub
The US-C China Businness Coun ncil has a w
webpage with
w informa ation on C hina's partticipation
in the WTTO, with a focus
f U corpora te activities in China.
on US

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 Ba
aylis and Smith:
S The Globalizattion of Worrld Politics 6e
Case Study:
S Chi nas WTO Accession n, 2001
IR Theorry in Practtice Case Study: Ch
hina's WTO
O Accessiion, 2001

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