China and the WTO: Changing China, Changing World Trade

Author: Supachai Panitchpakdi, Mark L. Clifford
List Price: $21.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0470820616
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (January, 2002)
Sales Rank: 69,955
Average Customer Rating: 4 out of 5

Customer Reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5
Insightful!
This book is a bit unfocused, but even its tangents are interesting. You get a few pages here on Chinese history, a few pages there of polemic about rich nations' unfair trading practices, here a digression, there a ramble. It's not completely about China and it's not completely about the WTO, though those bases are covered, and the other subjects it touches upon - including Asian regional economics - add to its value. The authors put both sides of the debate over trade in reasonably fair focus. We confirm that what they say about China, while not new, merits mulling over by anyone affected by globalization.


Rating: 2 out of 5
A Good read But Somewhat Slanted
This book does an excellent job of covering the issues of China & the WTO during globalization. However, it lacks coverage of what this will all mean for Western countries and the jobs that will inevitably be lost here. The previous reviewer contradicted himself by saying:

"The phenomenal success of recent economic growth is attributed to high savings rates, *protective laws* and strong and effective government policies."

"Protective laws" and Globalization oppose each other. Proponents of globalization say that protectionism and globalization cannot work together. The WTO purports to impose "free trade" on all its member countries. Yet while the west, especially the U.S. is opening its markets, its economies are nosediving. At the same time, China, who as the last reviewer admits practices protectionism is thriving. It's no coincidence. In an Animal Farm kind of way, the last reviewer is kind of saying "Some WTO countries are more equal than others". We either have free trade and all WTO members have to play by the same rules, or else we don't.

Why are U.S. markets forced wide open under WTO rules and countries like China are allowed to continue to practice protectionism? The book does not address any of these seeming contradictions in the argument for 'globalization'.


Rating: 5 out of 5
A fantastic book for any business student
I'm a Vietnamese international student in Boston-USA, I have been haunted by the quest of knowing more of the impacts on the southeast asia region once China entered the WTO. I hoped to predict what would happen in Vietnam once it enters the WTO because VN is likely to follow China's track and how she would deal with it. And this book says it all, it helps me so much in looking for the near future of VN, and what sector of VN needs to be fortified to be ready for the economic fight in the globalization process.

This is a well-written book with illustrations and proofs of points. The authors are well-respected in the economics community, as one of them will be the WTO Director General in Sep, 2002, and the other is the Regional Editor for BusinessWeek.

The economic impact of China accession is so profound that the book shouldn't be overlooked. This book will help you see the conflicting aspects of state-owned and private-held enterprises in China and the prospect of continuing administrative and economic reforms through the binding of WTO trade laws.

I gave the book 5 stars because it deserves to be the best.

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