Twenty years ago Zhu Rongji, China’s former premier, shrewdly used negotiations over his country’s accession to the World Trade Organisation to open its domestic markets to greater competition and import international standards into its legal system.
This produced more than a decade of strong growth, and gave China a greater stake in global trade.
Now China has another opportunity to advance internal reforms through international negotiations. The country is in discussions over bilateral investment treaties with the US and the EU. These would allow Chinese companies to invest and operate overseas more easily, in return for reciprocal access to Chinese markets. Such agreements can strengthen China’s economic governance and contribute to the creation of a rules-based international economy.