China and the WTO: Changing China, Changing World Trade

Most informed businesspeople already know the eye-popping figures: a country with a 5,000-year history that is looking forward to a potential doubling of GDP by 2010—meaning a potential GDP of $2.2 trillion—and so on. This book does a fine job of explaining the upside and downside behind the numbers as China joins the World Trade Organization. Naturally, its stance is pro-WTO: As of September 1, 2002, Panitchpakdi is the new WTO Director-General, serving a three-year term. (Co-author Clifford, based in Hong Kong, is Asia regional editor for BusinessWeek magazine.) Well-written and engaging, China and the WTO describes the road ahead, from the accession process to domestic reforms to China in the context of Asia and the rest of the world. The rise of China will be "disruptive," without a doubt, write Panitchpakdi and Clifford. But the WTO, they assert, "is one of the most important vehicles for ensuring that this transition occurs relatively smoothly and peacefully."