China has offered assistance to developing countries in promoting their industrial development and advancing the cause of poverty alleviation since it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) 17 years ago, an economics professor said after China released a white paper on Thursday.
The white paper titled "China and the World Trade Organization," gave a comprehensive introduction of China's fulfillment of its WTO commitments.
According to the white paper, China's rapid development has made tremendous contributions to the cause of global poverty reduction. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, over 700 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty.
"More than 70 percent of global poverty reduction over the same period has been achieved through industrialization which was brought by China after its WTO accession," Ju Jiandong, an economics professor at Tsinghua University told China.org.cn on Friday.
"It is a great contribution in human history which should be emphasized," Ju said.
China's opening-up of its market has brought great opportunities to both developed and developing members of the WTO, Wang Shouwen, vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press conference held to introduce the white paper.
He further stressed that a large number of developing countries have also benefited from China's WTO accession. For example, China has given zero tariff treatment on 97 percent of tariff lines to the least-developed countries who have diplomatic relations with China. Moreover, China has become the largest export market for these least-developed countries, and 20 percent of their exports go to China.
Ju noted that industrialization is the primary challenge facing developing countries, adding that the pivotal issue is to transfer the surplus labor in rural areas into the manufacturing sectors.
"China is successful from this perspective," he said. "Approximately 200 million rural surplus labors transferred into effective industrial labor forces every year after China joined the WTO," he explained, adding that it is a remarkable transformation of structure for production.
In the face of difficulties in world economic development, China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. "China has supported developing countries to learn from its experience in infrastructure construction, transferring the surplus labor forces out of those developing countries in a bid to realize industrialization," Ju said. "This is a great contribution that China is making to developing countries," he stressed.
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