China's Accession Of The World Trade Organization

• The enormous surplus of labor in China imperils workers worldwide as international competition puts incessant downward pressure on wages and working conditions, leading the apparel and textile industries to favor the cheapest and most Draconian producers.

Globalization in the Chinese clothing, textile, and shoe industries has created multiple jobs in China which is the highest employed country in the world. China employs 5.3 million workers in the clothing industries. Globalization has effected many countries in different ways but in China, it has allowed for more employment opportunities in the Chinese market. In 1996, China had become the leading world producer and supplier of clothing by generating about 13% of the world’s supply in clothing.4 This has helped China but the conditions are not the best in the world. The best use of globalization in China has to do with their trade with other countries which in the long run helps support their relationships with other regions.

Job opportunities changed immensely during China’s “golden age”. At first, rural women were a huge factor in the textile industry. They took care of the mulberry trees that fed the silk worms, they harvested the silk fibers from the worm’s cocoons, and then after turning the fiber into thread, they wove the thread into textiles. But when the economy

With the elimination of U.S. government subsidies, cotton textile manufacturers will pay more for cotton. As the leading buyer of cotton, the Chinese apparel industry’s profitability will be reduced due to their inability to pass on increased cotton prices to their buyers. China’s manufacturing costs had already increased by as much as 40% due to higher market wages and costs with complying with worker and environmental protections. Although China has substantial labor and is accused of utilizing sweat shops to keep their costs extremely low, their increasing manufacturing costs have opened the door to other countries with cheap labor such as Vietnam and Pakistan.

Based on the population issue, the Chinese government enforced the birth control policy from the late twentieth century until now, so the total fertility rate of China is lower than the total fertility rate of the U.S. In the labor market, China plays an important role of the labor export. Large population emerges more workers, so the labors are cheaper in China. After the cold war in the 1990s, the global economic cooperation made the connection between countries was more close and complex. Many international companies invent and possess their core technologies in the U.S or other developed countries, but they found their manufacturing factories in China. They already aimed at the Chinese large cheap labor market could reduce the cost in their entire business. Consequently, people can find different kind of stuff labeled as “made in China” easily and frequently—it is a good explanation for the fact of half of my clothes were “made in China”. Many small factories which produce clothes and accessories are located in small towns in southeast of China, especially Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong Provinces. Most of workers in those factories are wide range-age women who from rural areas with lower level education. Their working conditions are depended on the conditions of the factories.

China entered the WTO in December 2001. It had been a long process of negations with the WTO formerly the GATT. For China this was a big step. The process took about 15 years before China was accessioned into the WTO. According to an article “Free trade” it took this long mainly due to getting the country’s politics and policy making process to produce conditions that would allow them to submit a bid into the WTO and eventually become part of the WTO (Harold, 2008). Once China became part of the WTO they have tremendous economic growth.

Part of the reason for China’s massive jump into the global market comes from their lenient policies on labor, placing emphasis far more on production oppose to the safety of workers and the environment. However, even though the Chinese may have unsafe labor conditions and long hours, they still appreciate manufacturing jobs as they are both easier and pay better than the alternative farm labor. Additionally, due to the Chinese communist political system, Chinese citizens are given far less freedom than we in the western world are accustomed to. The manufacturing jobs place them closer to cities where there are more opportunities and job security for their families. Now more so than ever, due to growth in the Chinese economic market there are more choices in the textile market. Competition forces companies to improve wages and working conditions in order to maintain a workforce, which in turn causes lasting and positive change in the rapidly industrializing country. Although the domestic production of t-shirts would create more jobs for American citizens, the US labor force is unwilling to work for wages low enough to sustain the current textile market. Producing t-shirts in China allows the US consumer to enjoy lower prices, while creating economic growth

The textile industry has undergone enormous change in the past ten years. Global trade in textiles was once regulated by high tariffs and a complex system of import quotes. Not anymore. Textiles used to be produced predominantly in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Not anymore. Textile mills used to dictate fashion, everything from fabric construction to fiber content. Not anymore.

“Most of the peasants’ clothing and other daily necessities were produced at home. The men farmed the land and the women worked at home cooking and weaving cloth. People had no need, nor did they have the money, to buy foreign manufactured goods ” However the Opium Wars instigated major change to the economy through the Treaty of Nanjing among over successive unequal treaties. Article II states that Western merchants are to be allowed for the purpose of carrying on their Mercantile pursuits, without molestation or restraint at the Cities and Towns of Canton, Amoy, Foochow-fu, Ningpo, and Shanghai. These were strategically selected ports which allowed a large scope of the coastline of China to be fully accessed by the ships. Consequently, there have been dramatic increases in the economic activity of China, for generations of the denial of foreign trade sector, the sudden ease of access allowed commercial activity to flourish especially in regards to exports. “Tea export increased by over 500% and silk export rose to 28 times the previous amount of bales being shipped. Also, with the Hong abolished foreigners could now trade freely in China. Because all duties had to be negotiated with foreign countries, they were cut from 65% to 5%, wrecking many industries within China.” This is a direct correlation between the coerced changes that were made to

Some major trade policies have negatively impacted the trade patterns of the two countries in a way that in spite of their growing ties, the bilateral trade relationship is often laden with complexities. According to U.S., China’s unfinished

We will begin our analysis of these questions by examining China’s economy at the time of Deng Xiaoping’s accession to power in 1978 and the economic growth strategy he and his successor implemented which ultimately led China to ascension into the WTO. We will then review various conditions imposed upon China by the WTO and how China reacted to those changes and to what extent these lead to China’s current status and interaction

As a WTO member, China would be able to participate in the formulation of rules governing international trade and investment. At the same time, China would be able to protect its trade interests using the existing WTO dispute settlement system. Chinese exporters will benefit from the fact that their trading partners must comply with WTO rules. This means, for example, that WTO members will not be able to take on discriminatory measures against Chinese goods.

According to the data, the total volume of textiles exported from China has started a continuous rapid growth since 2001 (the year of China’s accession to the WTO) as shown in the first graph above, which roughly

The global textile and apparel industry is now considered a significant industry with a network of members settled in many countries including developed and developing countries. This industry is one of the first industries taking the global dimension into account to create its global value chain since the rapid expansion in 1970s (Fernandez-Stark, Frederick and Gereffi, 2011). Since the early development of the apparel industry and even until now, this industry is an adequate solution for the economic development and the starting point for many countries who direct to an export-oriented economy because of its low fixed costs and the emphasis on labor-intensive production. The export growth in some East Asia nations thanks to their advanced apparel industry is a good illustration for this situation (Gereffi and Memedovic, 2003).

Having joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November 17, 2006 opens to Vietnam lots of advantages regarding the economy. According to the major principles, joining WTO brings Vietnam to the expansion of market and increase in exports. Especially in agriculture and textiles, WTO has set out various measures to gradually eliminate