There are only two types of people, those who are struggling to understand China's reintegration into the global economy and what that means, and those who are not thinking about China at all. Having just returned from a fifth visit, interesting facts are still emerging from China. It is the one place where all the cliches are true - it is the magnitude of the problems and the opportunities that surprise. The head of the China Development Bank recently said it was planning for an expected 500 million people from the countryside to move into the cities in the next 17 years. This is the biggest migration in history. But how could this be possible? Last year, more than 100 million people were urbanised, while more than 200 million people have been lifted from extreme poverty in the past 15 years. China, proud of winning the bid to host the 2008 Olympics, will remodel Beijing as a world-class city. In 2010, Shanghai will host a World Expo, showcasing the city's technology and progress to the world and its citizens. They expect 60 million people, mainly locals, to visit the exhibition over six months. It would be a brave multinational that refused the invitation of the Shanghai government to participate. Some facts had emerged about China that were not true 30 months ago: it is the biggest destination of foreign investment; the second-biggest consumer of energy; the world's biggest importer of steel and iron ore; the biggest producer of aluminium; imports increased more than 40 per cent this year; South Korea exports more to China than to the US; China's trade surplus with the US is bigger than Japan's; and 94 per cent of Chinese watch television for more than two hours a day. Success breeds problems. The old speeches of the 1980s, delivered by US politicians about Japan have been dusted off, but now China is in their sights. America has moved to protect its textiles and consumer electronics industries by imposing quotas and tariffs on imports. A tariff on competitive Chinese exports of televisions sounds good to protectionists, but anti-dumping measures are complex, especially if the component parts are from the United States or if it is a US-owned company. Newspaper headlines roar 'Trade War!' However, now that China is a WTO member, there are rules and a binding disputes system to handle these conflicts. The headlines should now read 'Peace Talks in Geneva'. That is what the World Trade Organisation offers, a peaceful, civilised way of handling differences. The situation could get dangerously out of hand if there were no rules, no dispute system and no WTO. However, despite China having changed thousands of regulations and laws, and implementing on time its obligations, there are still problems. Especially with intellectual property rights and piracy. America says it loses US$2 billion a year through this type of theft. Most people joke about fake CDs, and even watches, but piracy is a serious problem when it impacts on pharmaceutical products, when medicines do not work, or inferior aircraft parts are sold. Counterfeit motorcycles are on the roads in Vietnam. General Motors said there are even counterfeit cars. China must address this issue, and it will. As the second-largest investor in research and development, it will be in its interests. The problem often lies in remote regions. When I visited a remote city of several million, an official laughed and told me they had a saying in their region: 'The sky is high, and the emperor is far away.' With the hype and optimism over China's economic expansion driving global growth, especially in Asia, problems remain, especially in banking and property. Meanwhile, the nation's economic diplomats are not waiting for the Doha round of trade talks to conclude. Bilateral and regional negotiations are under way. A deal for free trade in the Americas is limping on and Europe is quietly expanding. Regionalism can either be a building or a stumbling block for a global deal. When it is a substitute for a global deal, it could be dangerous, creating trade diversion. George Orwell, in his grim book 1984, predicted trading blocs of Oceania, Eurasia and East Asia, locked in a deadly battle for markets. Never forget that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which became the WTO, was established in part to prevent the rise of hostile trading blocs - a bitter lesson learned from the Great Depression. Yet, this Asian grouping could be a catalyst for more action in the WTO. I hope so. Mike Moore, a former prime minister of New Zealand, was the first director-general of the World Trade Organisation
