Over the past 20 years, China has fully fulfilled its commitments, continuously promoted reform and opening up, significantly enhanced its comprehensive national strength, and continuously increased its international status and influence. At the same time, the world economic and trade pattern is also constantly evolving, with trade frictions occurring from time to time, and globalization encountering a countercurrent.

 

Standing at a new historical juncture, how should we review the changes that China and the world have brought about 20 years after China's accession to the WTO? How should we look forward to the future of China's economic and trade relations with the world? In this regard, Pengpai News launched a special report on the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the World Trade Organization, "When the Wind Rises Again," to engage in an in-depth dialogue with multiple experienced and scholars, hoping to provide more dimensional perspectives.

 

In a few days, Tang Xiaobing will celebrate the first anniversary of his retirement from the WTO Secretariat.

 

On December 31, 2020, Tang Xiaobing completed his job as a Senior Counsellor in the Market Access Department of the World Trade Organization (WTO), becoming the first Chinese to work until retirement at the WTO.

 

However, in the year since his retirement, Tang Xiaobing has not been idle. Currently, he serves as a senior consultant at Gaopeng Law Firm, and also continues to participate in various WTO related forums and conferences, sharing his experience and views in the WTO.

 

Recently, Tang Xiaobing received an exclusive interview with surging journalists to share his stories about his participation in China's customs resumption and his work at the United Nations Trade and Development Commission and WTO.

 

The following is an interview transcript:

 

Pengpai News: I heard that you are the first official responsible for the "customs resumption" work. Can you tell me something about the situation before China officially applied for the "customs resumption"?

 

Tang Xiaobing: I joined the Ministry of Foreign Trade in 1978. In 1979, the central government decided to restore China's seats in the Bretton Woods system, namely, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

 

The restoration of seats in the IMF and WB proceeded relatively smoothly: on April 17, 1980, the IMF announced a resolution to restore China's legal seat in the IMF. On May 15th of the same year, China's legal seats in WB and its affiliated International Development Association and International Finance Corporation were restored.

 

Subsequently, it is urgent to restore our country's seat in the GATT.

 

On May 20th, 1980, after registering at the Second Division of the International Relations Group of the former Ministry of Foreign Trade, I immediately began preparations for the resumption of negotiations on China's GATT seat. As the first full-time official responsible for the work of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, I remember that the first task I accepted was to collate and review the results of the Tokyo Round negotiations and finalize the Chinese versions of the nine agreements reached.

 

Although these agreements had been translated into Chinese by colleagues from the UNCTAD team of the United Nations delegation in Geneva at the time, we faced difficulties in reviewing and collating the results of the Tokyo Round of negotiations and the Chinese versions of the nine agreements, similar to the difficulties encountered by developing countries in participating in the "Kennedy Round" multilateral trade negotiations, such as lack of understanding and familiarity with the laws and regulations involved in the negotiations, and lack of multilateral negotiation skills and knowledge, Lack of sufficient information and statistical data to support, as well as a lack of understanding of the complex negotiating context.

 

We have done a lot of work to sort out the relationship between China and GATT as clearly as possible. In addition to collecting literature from local archives and museums, in 1983, I also participated in a delegation organized by the Ministry of Foreign Trade to Hungary and Pakistan.

 

In addition, in order to enable China's clothing and textiles to smoothly enter the world, we applied to join the Multi Fiber Agreement (MFA), and I also participated in the negotiations throughout.

 

The surging news: China's accession to the Multifiber Agreement is even earlier than the official application for the resumption of customs clearance. Can you tell the story?

 

Tang Xiaobing: China's initial substantive contact with GATT began in 1982 when China was preparing to join the MFA. Although China had not yet restored its seat as a contracting party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, it could participate in the MFA.

 

Clothing and textiles are particularly important areas, and we also believe that it should be taken a step forward by joining the MFA to understand how the multilateral trading system operates, and by what means to negotiate and negotiate. Therefore, we will join the MFA as a training team.

 

In the autumn of 1983, the bilateral agreement between China and the European Community (now the "EU") on textiles was about to expire, and we were also participating in the MFA negotiations. At that time, the Ministry of Foreign Trade sent two delegations, one to Brussels and the other to Geneva, and the negotiations on the two agreements were almost simultaneous.

 

I remember that we had a standoff with the negotiators of the European Community in Geneva in a conference room for nine hours because we were not aware of the progress of bilateral negotiations on the other side when negotiating with each other. The representatives of the European Community must insist on waiting for the bilateral negotiations to complete before discussing the MFA. However, for China, if it can join the MFA, it will definitely be more flexible for trade with Europe than for bilateral agreements.

 

At that time, there was no mobile phone, and there was no such convenient communication method as today. We could only send faxes. Our colleague will go out soon and come back after contact. As a result, at our insistence, the European side agreed to give us more flexibility in the use of quotas.

 

In order to obtain more quotas for China's exports, we often confront the negotiators of other countries in bilateral negotiations. I remember sometimes arguing for more than ten hours about the quota of hundreds of thousands of shirts and 50000 pairs of jeans. "If we can get more quotas, domestic enterprises will have more opportunities.".

 

On January 18, 1984, China officially joined the MFA, and then began to fully prepare for the "customs review".

 

At that time, in addition to raw materials, China was able to export textiles and clothing on the international market. The first bucket of gold in China's reform and opening up also began with textiles. It was precisely due to the large number of textile and clothing exports at that time that China accumulated foreign exchange capital for reform and opening up.

 

Pengpai News: You are an early Chinese who joined an international organization. Why did you consider going to an international organization at that time? Which international organizations do you work for?

 

Tang Xiaobing: At that time, in order to better conduct MFA negotiations, developing countries established the International Textiles and Clothing Bureau (ITCB). In April 1986, the Chinese government appointed me as an expert in international textile trade to support their work. When this bureau was established, there were five people, two secretaries, and three full-time personnel: in addition to me, there was also an executive director, and an economist. At that time, our office was located in several offices affiliated to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

 

The important purpose of ITCB is to strengthen South South cooperation, coordinate the negotiating positions of developing countries in GATT, and work together to end the MFA and eliminate textile quota restrictions to reach a more beneficial clothing trade agreement for developing countries. After working for ITCB for a year, GATT launched the Uruguay Round of negotiations, and developing countries lacked professional negotiation officials. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reached a consensus to help developing countries participate in the multilateral trade negotiations under GATT. At the invitation of the Director of the Trade Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, I joined the UNCTAD secretariat to train trade negotiators for developing countries.

 

From November 1987 to July 2002, I worked in the Division of International Trade in Goods and Services of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, engaging in trade policy, trade law, and multilateral trade negotiations.

 

By August 2002, I had come to the WTO Market Access Division to work on market access related to the Doha Round of non agricultural products, trade facilitation, information technology products, and other goods trade. I worked until the end of last year to retire.

 

The surging news: What assistance have institutions such as the United Nations Trade and Development Commission and international organizations provided to China's "WTO accession" negotiations?

 

Tang Xiaobing: As we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of China's accession to the WTO, we should not forget the valuable support and assistance provided by international organizations and individuals who have provided us with technical support and assistance during the most difficult and difficult period of China's accession negotiations, especially from the UNCTAD MTN Technical Cooperation Program for Multilateral Trade Negotiations.

 

From October 20 to November 2, 1980, we invited Mr. Murry Gibbs, head of the multilateral trade negotiation programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, to visit Beijing. He gave a very systematic and detailed introduction to the GATT rules, system, and history, the results of the Tokyo Round of negotiations, the relationship between the economies of state-owned trading countries and the GATT rules and multilateral trade negotiations, as well as the situation of the MFA. "And held discussions with participants on issues such as the restoration of China's seat in GATT, whether to accept the nine agreements of the Tokyo Round, and accession to the multi fiber agreement.". This is the first workshop/seminar organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on China's entry into WTO.

 

In March 1987, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development established a new multilateral trade negotiation assistance project to help developing countries actively and effectively participate in the GATT Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. During the entire Uruguay Round, China, together with other developing countries and regions, received various technical assistance and negotiation capacity-building support from the project.

 

In March 1992, at the request of the Chinese government, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Multilateral Trade Negotiation Assistance Project Programme provided further, more comprehensive, more specific, and more targeted technical assistance to China through the CPR/91/543 project, using approximately $2 million from the United Nations Development Programme.

 

The project has held multiple seminars, forums, workshops, and training courses in China. She has organized domestic and foreign experts, international consultants, and experts from international organizations to prepare dozens of research reports, research and analysis papers, as well as textbooks, monographs, and collections of papers on the multilateral trading system and multilateral trade negotiations. Organize international experts or expert groups to visit Beijing to provide consultation to relevant departments on technical issues in areas such as tariff negotiations.

 

In addition to "bringing in", there is also "going out". The project has organized several Chinese trade officials to receive short-term training in foreign law firms and universities, participate in training courses and attend seminars. Organize Chinese trade officials and researchers to conduct investigation visits to relevant countries on issues such as agricultural trade, state-owned trade, and tariff quota management.

 

In addition, the project helped China establish a trade policy reference room, organize the development of tariff negotiation software programs to support WTO accession negotiations, and also provide necessary office automation facilities.

 

The New Zealand government has also set up parallel projects for this project: it has organized two research missions to New Zealand for several senior Chinese trade officials from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and other government agencies to investigate and study issues related to New Zealand's trade policies and trade negotiations.

 

At the tripartite review meeting at the final conclusion of the project, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Division of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and the United Nations Trade Conference all agreed that the implementation of the project was "satisfactory".

 

Long Yongtu also affirmed the significance of the project when he wrote to Rubens Ricupero, Secretary General of the United Nations Development and Trade Organization in 2002: The project has trained a large number of trade officials, trade negotiators, trade policy makers, researchers, and business representatives for China, some of whom have become senior officials and diplomats. The project has also prepared many valuable research reports and technical analysis papers on key areas and issues involved in the accession negotiations. Therefore, China has established certain capabilities in multilateral trade negotiations.

 

The surging news: At the end of 2001, China entered the WTO. In 2002, you worked for the WTO, almost witnessing the 20 years of China's entry into the WTO. Why did you choose to go to the WTO?

 

Tang Xiaobing: After China's entry into the WTO, I am the first Chinese to work in the WTO. At that time, I gave up my long-term contract to work at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and chose to go to the WTO headquarters in August 2002 to enter the WTO Secretariat through registration and examination.

 

The reason for working at the WTO is to gain a deeper understanding of the WTO and its secretariat, as well as the operational model of the multilateral trading system. At that time, he was mainly engaged in promoting the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations and trade facilitation. I spend approximately two-thirds of my time each year attending conferences and seminars around the world to provide technical assistance and advice to developing countries.

 

In addition, since April 2005, I have also served as the Secretary of the Information Technology Products Committee, responsible for coordinating the negotiation of the second WTO Agreement on Information Technology Products. Much work has been done for the success of the negotiation of the agreement.

 

The surging news: What impact has the WTO had on China?

 

Tang Xiaobing: China is at the crossroads of economic system reform when preparing for the "resumption of customs". The reform of local governments in China is very fragmented, with some establishing special economic zones and some proposing to establish separate tariff zones. In this case, the rules of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade can at least serve as a reference for our economic restructuring.

 

Personally, I believe that China's accession to the WTO has maintained the unity of China's domestic market, and the domestic market has since had a unified foundation to rely on. Although the establishment of the WTO is related to the changes in the world economic structure, including China's, China's reform and opening up have also benefited from the WTO. At that time, only the resumption of customs clearance could control various enterprises, localities, and interest groups in China. China has traditionally been a country that values business very much, and China's accession to the WTO has given us an opportunity for development.

 

On the surface, the principles and objectives of the multilateral international trading system are very good. The preamble to the GATT or the Havana Charter is a beautiful phrase, but this is not the case in reality. The appearance of the WTO today is shaped by changes in the international landscape and China's situation, and China has also developed through the WTO. If there is war, can China still have this opportunity? No, Therefore, all international mechanisms have a need for balance and are the result of balance.

 

If the WTO goes further, it will be difficult without external changes and impetus. "From the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to the current WTO, this is a significant leap forward. If we want to make another leap, we need to have some external conditions.". Therefore, we should pay attention to the study of international relations, because international law is a result of international relations, a compromise, not the most ideal, and not necessarily what people initially wanted.

 

Pengpai News: If you use one word to summarize the twenty years since China joined the WTO, which word would you use?

 

Tang Xiaobing: Earthshaking, China's accession to the WTO is truly a earthshaking change.

 

China's accession to the WTO has changed the pattern of the postwar multilateral trading system. Through its accession to the WTO, China has successfully developed its own economy and enabled it to successfully integrate into the world economy, becoming an important part of globalization.

 

(This article is translated by software translator for reference only.)