With China's accession to the WTO, China's economic reform has entered a new era and its opening-up has entered a new stage. The new concepts, new rules and new thinking patterns brought about by China's accession to the WTO are gradually changing the lives of Chinese people. Since joining the WTO more than a year ago, the Chinese government has strictly abided by WTO rules and agreements, effectively fulfilled its commitments, participated in international economic cooperation and competition with a more active attitude, and worked with a more sincere attitude to provide services to enterprises from various countries, including South Korea. Entering the Chinese market creates better conditions and new and greater opportunities. These efforts include:
First, strictly implement the commitment to open the market and create favorable conditions for foreign goods to enter China. In accordance with the requirements of WTO rules and the Chinese government's external commitments, starting from January 1, 2002, China's overall tariff level was reduced from 15.3% to 12%, involving more than 5,300 tax items, and the tax reduction coverage exceeded 70%. The tax rate on some information technology products has been reduced to zero. Non-tariff measures have been reduced, and quotas, licenses and specific bidding management for a number of products have been eliminated. The government is continuing to reduce tariff levels this year.
Second, the foreign-related economic laws and regulations have been cleaned up and the legal environment has been further improved. In accordance with WTO rules and China's external commitments, approximately 2,300 regulatory documents were sorted out, 830 of which were abolished and 325 were revised. The work of sorting out and revising foreign-related economic laws and regulations has been basically completed. The National People's Congress of China has revised the Law on Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures, the Law on Foreign-Invested Enterprises, the Law on Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures, the Customs Law, the Trademark Law, the Patent Law, the Copyright Law, and the Import and Export Commodities Law. Eight laws including the "Inspection Law" have been revised, fulfilling China's commitment to revise laws when it joined the WTO. In accordance with the principle of national treatment, China has revised some provisions of its foreign-related enterprise law that are inconsistent with the principle of national treatment. For example, in the process of revising the Patent Law, Trademark Law, and Copyright Law, the protection of intellectual property rights such as patents and trademarks has been strengthened in accordance with the various international intellectual property conventions and WTO rules that have been joined; in the " When the Customs Law was revised, a series of measures were formulated to speed up customs clearance and improve customs clearance efficiency, improve the customs valuation system, and clarify the customs protection of intellectual property rights.
In 2002, the Ninth National People's Congress and its Standing Committee formulated and revised more than 20 laws and related regulations to adapt to the development of the socialist market economy and the requirements for joining the WTO. During the three-year transition period, the country will also revise the Foreign Trade Law, the Insurance Law, the Entry and Exit Animal and Plant Quarantine Law, etc. in accordance with the needs of reform and opening up, and step up the formulation of the Anti-Monopoly Law and other laws. This indicates that the legal system with Chinese characteristics is expected to be further improved.
Third, after joining the WTO, China’s market has become more open and business opportunities are unlimited. According to calculations by the World Bank and Chinese research institutions, in the next ten years, China's total investment demand in infrastructure alone will be approximately US$750 billion, which is a huge investment demand. In the next five years, the opening of China's goods market will provide trading partners with market opportunities of at least US$1.5 trillion.
Over the past year, China has gradually formulated and improved laws and regulations in the service fields of finance, insurance, telecommunications, foreign trade, commerce, transportation, construction, tourism, securities, funds, construction and intermediary services. The industry has become a new hot spot for foreign investment. After joining the WTO, China has fulfilled its commitments and gradually opened up banking, insurance, telecommunications, trade, tourism and other service areas while gradually reducing tariffs. Gradually implement national treatment for foreign-invested enterprises, formulate a unified, standardized and transparent investment access policy, and remove restrictions on shareholding ratios for other enterprises except for important industries or enterprises related to national security and economic lifelines that must be controlled by the state.
China continues to be in a period of rapid economic development and is currently undergoing large-scale infrastructure construction. A number of large-scale projects such as the West-East Gas Transmission, the West-East Electricity Transmission and the Qinghai-Tibet Railway have been launched one after another. Especially in the fields of electricity, transportation, aviation, communications, Internet, environmental protection, etc., it will bring broad business opportunities.
With the expansion of market access areas and encouraged categories, restrictions on geography, shareholding ratio, business scope and other aspects have been relaxed, and there are more opportunities for foreign investment. The State Planning Commission, the Economic and Trade Commission, and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation officially released the new "Guidance Catalog for Foreign Investment Industries" in March 2002. The new "Catalogue" expanded the scope of market access, which is mainly reflected in the field of service trade, including banking, insurance, Telecommunications, transportation, commerce, foreign trade, tourism, accounting, auditing, legal consulting, etc. will be gradually opened in accordance with my country's commitments to the WTO. At the same time, the scope of encouraged investment has been expanded; restrictions on foreign investment share ratios have been relaxed; foreign investment in infrastructure projects in the western region and projects that are conducive to leveraging the advantages of natural resources and human resources in the western region, in industries (products) The restrictions on investment and stock ratio are looser than those in the eastern region. There are many business opportunities in the newly opened service trade field.
Fourth, in order to adapt to the new situation, government agencies have begun to carry out changes in management concepts, management functions, management systems, management methods, etc., so as to "speed up" government work in an all-round way. This move further transformed government functions, promoted the reform of the administrative approval system, rationally adjusted government organizations, and transformed government work methods. At the same time, we will promote e-government and further standardize and develop social intermediary organizations.
China has also made great moves to improve government administrative mechanisms. Many projects that originally required approval no longer require approval or have their approval reduced, standardizing government behavior and improving transparency.