Mainland membership of the World Trade Organisation will create more jobs and exports than it will lose, according to an authoritative argument published yesterday.
Membership would also enable the country to take its rightful place among the nations that decide the future, the newspaper article said.
The full-page article in the China Economic Times, published by one of the most important think-tanks of Premier Zhu Rongji, is the first public exposition of the government's view since President Jiang Zemin and his US counterpart, Bill Clinton, agreed on Saturday that Sino-US talks on WTO should resume.
It fuels the optimism of those who believe a deal is possible this year, with Beijing prepared to pay the price of entry despite strong domestic opposition.
The author is Ma Li, probably a pen-name, which means, appropriately, 'horse-power'. His job description was not given.
It compared the importance of membership to that of the mainland joining the United Nations in 1971.
'After we joined, we were completely able to use the organisation to behave like a great power, raise our international prestige and protect our national interests. What China was able to achieve in the UN it will equally be able to achieve in the WTO.
