A “Race to the Bottom”

The Chinese government rejoiced on the occasion of gaining World Trade Organisation membership in November 2001. There was an expectation in Peking that once the country became integrated into the world economy, it would be on the right track to attain economic prosperity. There might be some bumps along the way: some industries and agriculture would suffer, affecting employment, but as a whole, it was predicted, China would gain. Employment has been a major concern in China, and the government's best sell was that foreign investment would increase and the labourintensive manufacturing sector would gain: according to one estimate, 2.8 million additional jobs in textiles and 2.6 million jobs in the garment trade, as the constraints of quotas for garments and textiles end 1 .