It seems such a long time ago now, but China’s joining of the WTO only occurred eight years ago, in November 2001. Today it is taken for granted. However, without doubt there was a pre-WTO China, and a post-WTO China, and the two beasts have proven to be very different. The pre-WTO China had to negotiate for an astonishing 15 years to obtain membership of the WTO. (China Briefing)

Nice article by Chris Devonshire-Ellis in China Briefing on China’s WTO accession. It is hard to believe that it’s been that long, particularly considering that the legal reform that jump-started the whole process with respect to market access and IP began a couple years before 2001/2002.

I’ve actually been working on my syllabus for this Fall’s FDI law class and have been reading through a few different things on the subject. A good centerpiece for my purposes will be Karen Halverson’s law review article, “China’s WTO Accession: Economic, Legal and Political Implications” (27 B.C. Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 319, 2004), which I’ve used before.

It’s rather technical stuff, though, and covers not only the accession process itself, but a comparison with Eastern Europe’s experience with the GATT, the accession protocol agreed to by China, etc.

Always good to have some shorter, less technical pieces to throw out to the students for perspective, though. I was considering giving them a paper I had written in grad school on the accession process (it focused on the negotiations and politics), but I don’t usually like giving students things that I have written myself. Perhaps Chris’s article would be a good addition, particularly with respect to domestic politics.

All these anniversaries are becoming a bit weird for me. WTO will always represent the beginning of my China legal career as accession really got the ball rolling for my foreign investment practice.

This year’s National Day celebration, though, with all the hype and pageantry, really evokes 1999 and brings back a host of other memories. I’ll never forget leaving work one day at my office on Jianguomenwai to see a tank parked right outside the International Club waiting to drive down Chang An for the 50th Anniversary celebration practice session.

Hard to forget stuff like that.