China's WTO Accession and the ASEAN--China Free Trade Area: The Perspective of a Chinese Lawyer

China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) augurs well for the country's full integration with the world economy. It also greatly extends the horizon of China's regional economic co-operation and lends support to Asia's economic integration. China and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) are negotiating a free trade agreement (ACFTA) to be accomplished by 2010. As an initial step, they finalized the Framework Agreement for the ACFTA in Cambodia on 4 November 2002. For China, the ACFTA means new responsibilities. It has to make another major long-term commitment to a further opening of the door to ASEAN, on top of WTO requirements. The Chinese aspiration for an ACFTA mirrors its changing perception of globalization, with China's accession to the WTO serving as the catalyst. Nevertheless, some long-standing unsettled issues will continue to test its wisdom and magnanimity; the formulation of the ACFTA will not be a swift and smooth process, but rather a gradual one. Yet mutual interests between the two sides are likely to finally overcome the difficulties looming before the proposed ACFTA. The ACFTA will materialize and bring China and its Southeast Asian neighbors closer than ever before. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.