17-4 |
The meaning of China's entry into the WTO: A Chinese perspective |
P. F. RAO, Fuzhou Univ., Dept. of Biotechnology & Food Science, Fuzhou, China The unavoidable enormous impact of China’s entry into the WTO on its food industry has been an issue concern among the government policy makers and organizations, food importers and exporters, foreign-funded food business in China, while the majority of the domestic food manufacturers remain less sensitive to the issue. Chinese government strongly advocates China’s entry into the WTO with a full awareness of the fact that some sectors of Chinese food industry will benefit from the entry while others will be hurt or damaged. Chinese government believes that the initial shock to Chinese agriculture and food industry after the entry will eventually be converted into a powerful driving force for the development of agriculture and food industry in a long run. Meanwhile, both optimistic and pessimistic views on the issue have been widely aired by scholars, business circle through the intensive public discussion in the past few years. The former stands on the reasoning that the availability of cheaper supply of food ingredients with higher quality after China’s entry into the WTO will render Chinese food industry a competitive edge in the international market place, will thus enhance the development of Chinese food industry. The latter predicts that freer international trade and investment will strengthen the competitiveness of foreign food business in China, and that the domestic market for manufactured foods will shrink due to the unavoidable decrease in farmers’ income for the low productivity of Chinese agriculture. This double fold effect will seriously damage food industry in China. All the major different views on the issue will be presented, analyzed and discussed in this talk.
Session 17, Business opportunity in post-China WTO: Part 1: Current status and perspectives
|