Is China a Developing Country?

First and foremost, developing countries are given more time to implement WTO agreements and meet their obligations (for example, in the areas of intellectual property, investment measures, and sanitary standards). This allows them to bring their national legislation into line gradually with the international trade standards set out in the WTO’s core agreements.

These countries are permitted to use certain forms of government support and subsidies to develop domestic industries that would be restricted or prohibited in developed economies. They may also extend the period for which special safeguard measures are applied.

Under the Generalized System of Preferences, developed countries may unilaterally offer developing countries reduced tariffs or full exemptions from import duties on certain goods.

Thus, longer transition periods, combined with flexibility to protect emerging domestic industries and easier access to other countries’ markets, create favorable economic conditions for states to adapt to WTO rules.

According to the World Bank’s classification, China is now on the verge of moving into the high-income category. However, the Chinese leadership is in no hurry to classify the country among the world’s wealthy nations. In international organizations, “developing country” status also exempts China from, among other things, the obligation to contribute to certain global climate change funds.

As the United States and China compete for influence, China presents itself as a champion of the interests of the Global South in Latin America, Africa, and Asia—a position that is difficult to reconcile with high-income status.

And although the world’s largest economies have voiced their dissatisfaction with this state of affairs, “Vaska listens and goes on eating”...

Author: Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of World Economy and International Finance, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Natalia Vladimirovna Sergeeva.