Why have Chinese leaders attached so much importance to joining the WTO? The most widely cited reason for China's willingness to join is to continue the reform process. In many ways, joining the WTO was China's best way to maintain economic growth. The global economy had become much more complex and interdependent, and China's participation - based on international trade rules - was essential for China and the rest of the world. As a member of the WTO, China would be able to participate in formulating rules governing international trade and investment. At the same time, China would be able to protect its trade interests using the existing dispute settlement system at the WTO. Chinese exporters will benefit from their trading partners having to comply with WTO rules. This means, for example, that WTO members will not be able to take discriminatory measures against Chinese products. Another factor is the result of observing the technological revolution of the 1990s. Chinese leaders wanted China to participate in these developments, and this would be much easier if China was seen as a satisfactory economic partner. Cooperation with the WTO would also include the protection of intellectual property (Prime, 2002). WTO membership is also expected to attract more foreign investment, some of which would bring desired new technologies or help strengthen China's technological development capabilities. The fact that China has joined the Information Technology Agreement, which phases out all tariffs on information technology products by 2005, lends credence to this as a supporting factor membership (Prime, 2002). Chinese exports increased significantly throughout the reform period, helping China make money. currencies for needs...... middle of paper ...... problems. Finally, China wanted to ensure that Taiwan did not join first, so that it would have a say in the status of that economy within the organization (Prime, 2002). Overall, China's participation in the WTO would promote the reform process, boost the expansion of foreign exports. investment in the Chinese economy, would have a positive impact on the development of the service sector, so that China would become a rule setter in the global trade community. Speaking at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Qatar, the head of the Chinese delegation, Shi Guangsheng, said that participation in the multilateral trading system is currently the only possibility to get the most out of the developing world in the process of economic globalization. Works Cited Prime, P. (2002), “China and WTO: How, Why and What Now? », Business Economics, Vol. .37, April. Retrieved from http://www.chinacenter.net/