In the WTO, the EU always stands at a high level, while China has been rising
from an“observer”to a“new member”and then to a“full-fledged member”; thus
the gap between the two sides is narrowing. During this period, the EU has created
a lot of trouble for China and has also offered some help to China. China gradually
changed from a“low-key new member”in the Doha Round to an“active promoter”
after 2008, and then a“co-leader”of negotiations together with core members
including the EU to some extent; in the dispute settlement mechanism, China
gradually moved from an“active third party”to an“aggressive party”after 2006,
and has not only been subject to complaints from the EU but has alsofiled com-
plaints against the EU; basically, the two sides are mutually on the offensive and
defensive and China is mainly on the defensive; regarding the trade policy review
mechanism, China gradually shifted from a“supervisee”engaged in fulfilling its
WTO commitments to a“normal reviewer”after 2008, and it has been praised and
criticized by the EU while praising and criticizing the EU. This developmental
process for China should also be well-received by the EU.
On the whole, interaction between the two sides in the WTO was obviously
asymmetric with the EU and China on the offensive and defensive respectively due
to differences in perception, desire and capability before 2008; with the overall
impact from objective and subjective factors, both sides moved in a symmetric
direction, and tended to achieve benevolent interaction in general after 2008.
However, there is still a large gap between China’s capability and that of the EU;
interaction between the two sides is still very fragile on some aspects and is far from
becoming mature.
6.5.2 Outlook
To a great extent, with the protracted Doha Round, the WTO is facing the severest
challenge since its establishment, and the multilateral trade system will be subject to
many uncertainties in the future. Basically, regionalism and bilateralism are on the
increase and will even become prevalent. For the EU’s trade landscape, so far the
EU has signed and implemented nearly 40 preferential trade agreements, and has
nearly 90 agreements under negotiation or which have been signed but have not yet
come into force, covering many large trading countries which are China’s neigh-
bors^26 ; for example, the EU and South Korea signed a new free trade area agree-
ment in October, 2010; the EU and Japan launched free trade area agreement
negotiations on March 25, 2013; the EU and the USA launched Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations on February 13, 2013. Pressure for
China has also included the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations
since 2010.
(^26) Seehttp://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2012/june/tradoc_149622.jpg.
136 L. Heng