Reforming China's Embedded Socialist Compromise: China and the WTO

After 15 years of negotiation, China finally entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 accepting terms that not only had it rejected for much of the negotiating period, but also were far more stringent than those previously negotiated by new developing country members. This is partly because the legal structure of the WTO provides developed country members with considerable leeway to impose conditions on prospective entrants. But the main explanation is found in a changing conception of how best to achieve China's long-term economic interests, and the need for key leaders to form transnational alliances in order to pursue their policy preferences.