Commentary
After decades of breaking the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and adversarial trade practices, should communist China be allowed to continue to exploit the rest of the world?
China’s admission to the WTO in 2001 was a pivotal moment for both global trade and China. Yes, the rest of the world got cheap goods, often made by the equivalent of slave labor, but the costs have been as enormous.
The delusion in 2000 was that letting China join the WTO would cause its one-party authoritarian state to loosen its grip on the country’s more than 1 billion people. The lessons of Tiananmen Square that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) taught the world in 1989 were long forgotten, or, more likely, ignored.
To think that the integration of the communist nation into the rules-based trading system would prompt economic reform and openness in China’s market was naïve at best. To imagine that the CCP would relax and participate in global cooperation was sheer fantasy or simple indifference.
The reality is brutal. China’s state-led economic model, coupled with persistent violations of WTO commitments, has led to countless instances of exploitation and predatory trade practices around the world, decade after decade.
From intellectual property theft to massive trade imbalances, the global economy faces challenges that are direct consequences of the Chinese regime’s actions within the WTO framework. The global costs of “integrating” the regime into the rest of the world are staggering.
The CCP has “integrated” into the world economy the same way cancer integrates into the human body.
7 Ways the World Is Worse Off
1. Huge Trade Imbalances
China’s trade surplus with the United States alone ballooned from $100 billion in 2001 to more than $400 billion by 2023, driven by policies that promote exports while restricting foreign access to its markets, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Too often, American and European Union manufacturers lose against cheap, subsidized Chinese goods. While consumers benefit from lower prices, the long-term cost is economic dependency on Chinese manufacturing.2. Loss of Millions of Jobs
The influx of Chinese imports under WTO membership led to massive job losses in Western manufacturing sectors. The United States alone has lost an estimated 3.4 million jobs to China between 2001 and 2015, according to the Economic Policy Institute. This decimated America’s industrial heartlands, particularly in textiles and electronics, as companies chased lower labor costs or went out of business.3. Stolen Intellectual Property
China’s rampant intellectual property (IP) theft is a well-documented issue. China’s state-sponsored espionage targets Western companies, despite WTO commitments to protect IP, including forced technology transfers and cybertheft. The losses to U.S. companies are estimated at $225 billion to $600 billion annually, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.4. Stolen Factories and Industrial Hollowing
China’s subsidies and forced joint ventures with Western companies, once they’ve relocated there, also face mandates to hand over proprietary knowledge. This has resulted in Chinese companies dominating critical supply chains in electronics and heavy machinery, weakening national security and economic resilience.5. Hollowed-Out Middle Classes and Social Decline in Western Nations
The decline of manufacturing jobs has eroded the middle class in Western nations, resulting in high unemployment, stagnant wages, and rising inequality. China’s WTO membership has been the main cause, with its low-cost goods outcompeting local industries. The societal and political fallout is being felt today.6. Extreme Debt From BRI
Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as “One Belt, One Road”) has saddled developing nations with unsustainable debt, with some cases exceeding 10 percent to 15 percent of their GDP. Countries such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan have ceded strategic assets, including ports, to China after defaulting on loans. While framed as infrastructure aid, the BRI mainly serves the CCP’s geopolitical interests, locking poorer nations into dependency and undermining their sovereignty.7. Chinese-Controlled Sea Gates and Global Influence
Through BRI and strategic investments, China has gained control over critical maritime chokepoints, such as the Port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka and influence in the Panama Canal zone. These “sea gates” increase Beijing’s ability to project power and control global trade routes, raising concerns about military dominance in key regions.Breaking Communist China...
The Chinese regime has been abusing WTO rules and the rest of the world since the very beginning. Furthermore, the regime’s comprehensive and endemic non-compliance, which is directed by the CCP, has undermined the WTO’s credibility.Since 2001, the United States has filed 23 of 43 WTO cases against China for numerous violations, yet enforcement remains weak. Expulsion could pressure China to reform, potentially leveling the playing field, but if the past is prologue, that’s not in the cards.
The Trump administration’s tariffs aim to break China’s grip on manufacturing and bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. China is already feeling the pain of lower demand, lower wages, and higher unemployment. A direct result is the CCP feeling the pressure of rising domestic tensions as perhaps even a systemic threat.
Or Breaking the WTO?
Opponents argue that expelling China would weaken the WTO and global trade. That’s true. But others have noted for years that the regime’s adversarial trade will break the WTO. At the very least, Beijing’s abuse has distorted, if not diminished, the WTO’s relevance.After all, what’s the point of a WTO if it spawns an economic imbalance that threatens the well-being of the rest of the world?
That said, should the WTO make more rules that Beijing will ignore? Playing the same game and hoping China will change while the CCP is in power isn’t realistic.
Some worry that expulsion could also push China to form alternative trade blocs outside the WTO, further fragmenting the global economy. That’s happening as you read this.
China needs to be kicked out of the WTO.
A better, more just, and beneficial arrangement would be for free nations to trade with other free nations, and let the dystopian dictators in Beijing trade with others like themselves.
How well would that work out?
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
