Recently,Wang Lei,the director of Gaopeng Law Firm,was interviewed by The Paper.He recalled the stories of assisting successive negotiators in the negotiations for China's resumption of GATT contracting party status,accession to the World Trade Organization(WTO),and representing China in the anti-dumping case against the European Union regarding fasteners.

Editor's Note:On December 11,2001,China joined the World Trade Organization.This day became an important watershed in the development of China's relations with the world.Over the past 20 years,China has fully fulfilled its commitments,continuously advanced reform and opening up,significantly enhanced its comprehensive national strength,and continuously increased its international status and influence.The living standards of urban and rural residents have also been remarkably improved.At the same time,foreign trade frictions have occurred frequently,and the current pandemic has had a profound impact on the global industrial chain and supply chain.How should we view the development and changes over the 20 years since China's accession to the WTO?How long can the dividends of China's WTO accession last?How should the next step of opening up to the outside world be promoted?On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO,The Paper had in-depth discussions with many witnesses,experts and scholars about the past,present and future of China and the WTO,hoping to provide a multi-dimensional perspective on the relationship between China and the WTO,as well as between China and the world.

"Today is an important day.I am like a drop of water,but I am fortunate to merge into the surging current moving forward."

On December 11,Wang Lei,the director of Gaopeng Law Firm,left this sentence in his WeChat Moments to commemorate the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the World Trade Organization(hereinafter referred to as the"WTO").

Since China officially applied for the resumption of its contracting party status in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT)in 1986,Wang Lei has been deeply involved in the negotiations for China's resumption of GATT status.

As one of the"first batch of talents"for China's resumption of GATT status,Wang Lei once served as the Deputy Director of the WTO Division of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.He assisted successive negotiators in the negotiations for China's resumption of GATT status and accession to the WTO.He also worked in the Permanent Mission of China to Geneva for six years.As the main assistant to the ambassador of the mission,he participated in the negotiations with the United States and the European Union,and drafted China's Protocol of Accession to the WTO and other legal documents.He participated in the multilateral trade negotiations of the Uruguay Round throughout the whole process.

In 1996,Wang Lei resigned from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and worked as a practicing lawyer in Brussels,Belgium for six years.During this period,he represented a large number of Chinese enterprises in responding to anti-dumping cases in the European Union.After China joined the WTO,he returned to China to practice law in 2002.In addition to participating in the settlement of trade disputes in the WTO field for China,Wang Lei has also been representing Chinese enterprises in anti-dumping and countervailing cases initiated abroad,as well as the trade legal affairs of multinational corporations in China.

The following is the interview transcript:

The Paper:How did you get involved with GATT and the WTO?

Wang Lei:Here I must mention an old gentleman who has had a profound impact on me and the entire cause of international law in China.

In 1980,I entered the major of Economic Law at the Law School of Peking University and became one of the first batch of students majoring in Economic Law in the country.The major was founded by the leading figure in the field of law,Mr.Rui Mu,who is the founder of the disciplines of Economic Law and International Economic Law in China.Mr.Rui was born in 1908.When I entered the university,he was already over seventy years old,but he still insisted on teaching undergraduate students.Until he was 92 years old,he still insisted on supervising doctoral students.Mr.Rui enjoys a lofty status in the legal circles of China and even the world.He is also an outstanding generation of legal educators,having trained a large number of excellent international law talents.

In 1985,there were already some information in China indicating that China was preparing to resume its GATT status.I wrote a master's thesis on the research of the GATT dispute settlement mechanism and other contents,and at that time,Mr.Rui was responsible for guiding my thesis.

After graduation,I went to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and directly engaged in work related to GATT.Since then,my correspondence with Mr.Rui has never stopped.I worked in Geneva for six years,and Mr.Rui would send letters to the Permanent Mission of China to Geneva by international mail.Mr.Rui said that he wanted me to find some materials about GATT for him.Although China was not a GATT member at that time,but only an observer,I still had some conveniences to obtain some GATT documents and materials.I tried my best to copy them.

However,I couldn't afford the international postage for copying the materials,so I asked my colleagues who came to Geneva for meetings from China to bring them back.For many years,I have been in correspondence with Mr.Rui,and he also shared his research and thoughts with me.Thanks to the work opportunity in Geneva,I had an advantage over legal professionals in China to better understand the game rules of GATT.So I wrote my research into English papers and published them abroad,and I also sent the papers to Mr.Rui for his guidance.

After I returned to China in 1994,Mr.Rui asked me to come to Peking University to teach the postgraduate students about the rules of GATT and the WTO.At that time,it was the crucial period of China's negotiations for resuming GATT status.I could only teach at Peking University on weekends for a year in my spare time.Mr.Rui said to me,"Our department doesn't have the funds to pay you,we can only reimburse you for the fare of taking a'minibus'."

There were about more than 20 students in this course,including Chinese students and South Korean international students.Since most of them were postgraduate students,I didn't have much content in the form of indoctrination.Instead,I assigned students to read relevant documents and cases,and then each student was asked to choose a topic,prepare an outline of the article first,and then come to the class to give a presentation.Everyone would comment on it,and finally I would give a review.

These students were all disciples cultivated by Mr.Rui,and many of them have become the mainstay of China's WTO legal team.

The Paper:During your work in Geneva,it was also the stage of China's negotiations for resuming GATT status.During the process of your participation in the negotiations,are there any stories that impressed you deeply?

Wang Lei:Regarding China's application for"resuming"its contracting party status,the way all countries reached an agreement was to solve it through playing with words.

After World War II,the United Nations was established,and China was one of the founding countries.At the same time as the establishment of the United Nations,the major powers deliberated,negotiated from 1945 to 1947 and established the GATT in 1948.Later,due to the changes in China's domestic political situation,it was not until the 1980s,more than 30 years later,that the Chinese government proposed to resume its GATT status,which was unprecedented in the history of the General Agreement.

China,all parties of the GATT and the GATT Secretariat carried out intensive discussions on the way and procedure for China to enter the GATT.

Some member states believed that China was rejoining and should follow the procedures for joining the GATT.China firmly opposed this,because legally it severed the continuity of China's international law subject,and politically it was also inconsistent with the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.However,regarding the position of resuming the status,all parties put forward various confusions and doubts:If it is to resume the status,how should the accounts be calculated from the withdrawal of the previous representative in 1950 until now?How should the interests of China's tariff concessions with each member state during this period be calculated?Should the membership fees that China did not pay during this period be made up?

After negotiation,all parties finally reached a tacit understanding.

On the premise of not undermining the position of resuming the status,China was prepared to actually negotiate a new schedule of concessions with each member state according to the accession procedures as an"entrance fee"to fulfill the rights and obligations of the GATT.On the premise that China actually negotiated to enter the GATT according to the accession procedures,all parties and the GATT did not actually raise objections to China's position of resuming the status.

Accordingly,the resumption is not the restoration(restore)at the original breakpoint,but the resumption(resume)at the end point of the future negotiations after negotiation.Thus,the accounts from the withdrawal of the previous representative until the resumption of the status by the current representative(resume)are written off.

Throughout the negotiations for China's resumption of GATT status,in any document in the tone of the GATT,including the name of the working group established for the negotiations on China's resumption of its status,the GATT avoided using the word"resume"and replaced it with"China’s Status as a Contracting Party".Although this statement is very awkward,it can be regarded as the greatest common divisor among all parties.

The Paper:You once served as the agent lawyer in China's anti-dumping case against the European Union regarding fasteners(DS397 case)in the WTO.After seven years of arduous struggle,could you tell us about your experience and feelings in handling this case?

Wang Lei:During my work in the Permanent Mission to Geneva,I participated in the entire process of the drafting and negotiation of several agreement texts of the Uruguay Round,including the rules of the WTO dispute settlement procedures.Although I was familiar with the provisions,I never had the opportunity to practice them.It was not until 2009 when I participated in representing the Chinese government in suing the European Union in the WTO for its anti-dumping measures against Chinese fasteners(DS397 case)that I completed the process from the drafting and negotiation of the provisions to the practice of dispute settlement by applying the provisions.

This case,from the consultations in 2009 to the release of the final ruling by the WTO Appellate Body for implementation in January 2016,lasted for seven and a half years,and almost went through all the legal remedy procedures that the WTO granted to its member states.

Fasteners are commonly known as the"rice of the industry",including screws,nuts,bolts and washers,etc.,and are widely used.China is the largest manufacturing country of fasteners in the world and also a major exporter of fasteners.

In 2007,the European Union launched an anti-dumping investigation on Chinese steel fasteners and made a ruling in 2009,imposing an anti-dumping duty of up to 85%for five years on Chinese fastener products.According to industry statistics,after the EU's anti-dumping final ruling in 2009 and the start of taxation,China's market share in the European market dropped sharply from 26%to 0.5%.

The Chinese government brought the EU's measures to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism on July 31,2009.This case went through two rounds of dispute settlement procedures,the original trial and the implementation stage.China won successively in the original trial panel and the appeal stage.After that,in 2012,the EU revised the EU's Basic Anti-Dumping Regulation to implement the rulings of the original trial panel and the Appellate Body.However,the subsequent review of the anti-dumping measures against Chinese fasteners initiated by the EU did not fulfill the rulings of the WTO panel and the Appellate Body.The Chinese government continued to bring the issue of the EU's implementation of the ruling to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.Until 2016,the Appellate Body for implementation released the final ruling,fully supporting China's claims.

The DS397 case is of epoch-making significance in many aspects:It was the first time that China sued the European Union in the WTO and won the case;it went through all the legal remedy procedures granted to member states by the WTO;due to China's victory,the EU was forced to amend its laws;China obtained the right to retaliate against the EU for the first time after joining the WTO through this case;in addition,in the final report of the implementation stage released by the Appellate Body on January 18,2016,China was supported by the Appellate Body for implementation on all 23 issues,while all the claims of the EU were rejected.This is unprecedented in the history of China and even the WTO dispute settlement.

The Paper:After the great victory,is there no obstacle for Chinese fastener enterprises to return to the EU market?

Wang Lei:That's not the case.The WTO ruling only targets the trade policy measures of the parties involved,and does not involve specific compensation.The ruling is also not binding on other member states.This is an inherent defect of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.

The DS397 case lasted for seven years,which actually means that during these seven years of the litigation period,the EU has been using or partially using anti-dumping measures that do not conform to the WTO,and has not given Chinese enterprises a reasonable and fair competitive treatment.This has forced many Chinese enterprises to withdraw from the market or give up their business in the EU.

The WTO's final ruling in 2016 was only five years ago.In 2020,the EU launched another anti-dumping investigation on Chinese-made carbon steel fasteners.Just last month,on November 16,the EU's ruling revealed that the anti-dumping duty rates for some imported steel fasteners originating in China are between 23.9%and 89.8%.

Although China won the lawsuit over fasteners in the WTO,the real financial losses of Chinese fastener enterprises in the EU market have not been compensated by the losing party,the EU.The severe blow to Chinese fastener enterprises caused by the EU's violation of the WTO rules has not been properly healed,and Chinese fasteners have not really returned to the EU market.

Of course,this does not mean that the WTO dispute settlement mechanism is useless.The WTO dispute settlement mechanism only maintains the balance of the rights and obligations that member states have obtained under the WTO.It only corrects mistakes,but does not make up for the losses caused by the mistakes.

The Paper:If you were to use one word to summarize the 20 years since China's accession to the WTO,which word would you use?

Wang Lei:I would use the word"building on past achievements and opening up new prospects"to summarize it.We need to inherit the impetus of the continuous and vigorous reform and opening up over the past 20 years and 35 years,as well as that international vision,and constantly open up new paths in the new era.

Whether it is for China itself or for the WTO,I think the word"building on past achievements and opening up new prospects"is applicable.

I have experienced the prosperous reform and opening up in China in the 1980s and 1990s,which witnessed rapid changes day by day.For China,we still need to continue this spirit of reform and opening up and open up new development paths.At the same time,the WTO once had its glorious moments.Under the current situation,how to carry forward the multilateral trading system and how to promote the continuous progress of the WTO also require building on past achievements and opening up new prospects.

Article source:The Paper,Reporter:Zhou Di.Original link:https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_15867528