China formally joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), anchoring its post-reform opening to global trade rules and accelerating integration into global supply chains through binding market-access commitments.
China opened its permanent mission to the WTO in Geneva, strengthening day-to-day engagement with WTO committees, notification obligations, and dispute-settlement processes.
China and ASEAN leaders signed the Framework Agreement on China–ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, setting a roadmap toward the China–ASEAN Free Trade Area and deepening regional production and trade links in parallel with WTO integration.
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) was formed to act as the state shareholder for centrally administered non-financial SOEs, shaping SOE governance and restructuring during China’s post-WTO expansion.
China joined the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA), committing to eliminate tariffs on covered IT products—an important step in expanding China’s role in electronics and ICT supply chains.
China moved from a strict US dollar peg to a managed floating exchange rate regime referenced to a basket of currencies, a major macro-policy shift amid rapid export growth and rising external balances during the post-WTO period.
In WTO Trade Policy Review documentation, the WTO Secretariat highlighted significant accession-driven reforms, including a reduction in average applied MFN tariffs from pre-accession levels to below 10% by 2005—illustrating how WTO commitments translated into measurable policy change.
Under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program, Chinese authorities allocated initial quotas allowing selected domestic institutions to invest abroad; Bank of China launched a first QDII fund, marking early steps in capital-account liberalization.
Official figures confirmed China’s foreign exchange reserves exceeded US$1 trillion by end-2006 (breaking the threshold by late 2006), reflecting sustained trade surpluses and capital inflows during the post-WTO export boom.
China adopted the Enterprise Income Tax Law, unifying corporate income tax treatment for domestic and foreign-invested enterprises with a standard 25% rate—an important shift in the investment regime as China normalized conditions after WTO entry.
China adopted its first comprehensive competition law, providing a national framework against monopoly agreements, abuse of dominance, and certain anti-competitive concentrations—an institutional pillar for regulating increasingly complex post-WTO markets.
China submitted its written application to accede to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), formally launching accession efforts aimed at opening parts of its government procurement market under a plurilateral WTO framework.
China’s Anti-Monopoly Law entered into force, enabling enforcement and compliance programs that affected domestic firms and multinationals operating in China’s market during deepening post-WTO integration.
China launched the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, using a controlled zone-based approach to test reforms (e.g., investment administration via a “negative list”) and to experiment with services liberalization and financial measures tied to global integration goals.
China's WTO Accession and Post-WTO Economic Integration (2001–2015)
