中国与世界贸易组织争端解决机制:评估和展望

在多边框架内有效解决贸易争端是中国申请加入世界贸易组织的主要动机之一。作者分析了中国"入世"10年来参与世界贸易组织争端解决活动的具体情况,重点讨论了两个关键性问题:世界贸易组织的争端解决机制能否有效预防成员对协定的违反,维护中国的贸易利益?其他世界贸易组织成员在使用争端解决机制时是否存在针对中国的"好讼"倾向?作者认为,随着经济实力的增长、国际经济交往的加深和对争端解决活动日益积极的参与,中国利用国际经济规则来遏制他国针对性贸易保护主义行为的能力相应增强。在世界贸易组织框架下,中国国际经济地位的相对变化是出现针对中国"好讼"现象的重要原因。因为国家间经济地位的相对变化改变了相互间合作的收益,在多哈回合进展有限的情况下,其他成员希望通过世界贸易组织的申诉强制实施更高水平的国际合作。在信息不对称条件下,出口额和贸易平衡状况等现有观测指标的缺陷进一步加强了其他成员对中国的关注,提高了其对中国申诉的可能性。此外,世界贸易组织成员政府对特定部门利益的偏重以及对争端解决机制的策略性使用都从不同途径提高了贸易伙伴对中国申诉的动力。

China and WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism:Evaluation and Forecast

To effectively settle the trade disputes within WTO system is one of the major motivations for China to enter this multilateral trade system.Based on an analysis of China’s ten-year practice in WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism(DSM),this paper tries to answer two key questions:whether DSM works well to prevent WTO members from violating the agreements and their commitments,and whether there exists the aggressive tendency to file cases against China.The author argues,since China became a formal member of WTO ten years ago,its capacity to control trade protection activities by taking the advantage of WTO enforcement mechanism grows.The major reasons include rapid economic growth of China,deeper involvement of China in world economy,and China’s increasing participations in WTO DSM.The author also confirms the litigious tendency of certain WTO members to use DSM towards China,which arises due to the relative change of China’s economic status,the failures of certain indexes under asymmetric information,the governments’ bias towards some interest groups,and the strategic use of DSM by some members.