One major issue facing the world trading system today is how to deal with the challenge of China's state capitalism. Many commentators believe that the existing WTO rules are insufficient and, thus new rules are needed. This book challenges this conventional wisdom. Through meticulous studies and fresh analysis of the commitments in China's WTO accession package, existing rules on state capitalism in WTO agreements and recent attempts to make new rules on these issues at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels, this book argues that existing WTO rules, especially those on subsidies, coupled with China-specific rules in its accession protocol, do provide feasible tools to counter China's state capitalism. This book also discusses the reasons for the lack of usage of these rules and provides concrete policy suggestions on how the rules may be better utilized, as well as how to conduct constructive negotiations on new rules in the WTO and beyond.

‘Henry Gao and Weihuan Zhou have done the nearly impossible—unpacked the relationship between the triumph of China and the decline of the WTO while presenting a compelling challenge to the conventional wisdom that WTO rules are inadequate to address Chinese state capitalism. A must read for those looking to understand how China’s economic model impacts the world and its trading system.’

Jennifer Hillman - Co-Director of Center of Inclusive Trade and Development and Professor from Practice, Georgetown University Law Center

‘This is a very useful contribution destined for all students and practitioners of international trade. The authors address the core question that has been recently plaguing the world trading regime, namely, to what extent the regime choice is prejudged by the letter and the spirit of the current multilateral disciplines. It is no exaggeration that that the future policy relevance of the WTO hinges on the response to this question.’

Petros C. Mavroidis - Edwin B. Parker Professor of Foreign & Comparative Law, Columbia Law School, New York City