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Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche Cattedra International Public Policies TITOLO China and the WTO: Economic and Social development. An analysis of the agricultural sector and the Hukou system RELATORE CANDIDATO Prof. Mattia Guidi Alessia Santoro Matr. 630722 CORRELATORE Prof. Giuseppe di Gaspare Anno AcCademiCo 2017/2018 1 Ringraziamenti Dopo due anni, finalmente il giorno è arrivato: scrivere queste frasi di ringraziamento è il tocco finale della mia tesi. È stato un periodo di profondo apprendimento, non solo a livello accademico, ma anche personalmente. Ho pensato e scritto questa tesi durante il periodo passato in Cina, probabilmente se fossi rimasta a Roma non avrei mai potuto pensare ad un tema del genere, pertanto il primo ringraziamento va alla Luiss per avermi permesso di partecipare al programma di Double Degree. Grazie “Mamma Luiss” per avermi permesso di vivere un anno stupendo dove ho conosciuto persone meravigliose che mi hanno dato tanto e che spero di poter rivedere presto. Ricollegandomi a questo il secondo Grazie va al gruppo CFAU, ragazzi non vi ringrazierò mai abbastanza per l’anno passato assieme. In particolare, vorrei ringraziare Stefania e Mariapaola, mie due compagne di viaggio: Grazie per avermi supportato e sopportato durante tutto l’anno. Vorrei altresì ringraziare la mia Conqui/Amica, Roberta; non abbiamo passato quest’ultimo anno insieme ma quante ne abbiamo passate in quattro anni? Mi conosci meglio di chiunque altro e sei stata con me sempre, anche in momenti non proprio belli. Con la tua ironia e intelligenza sei stata la colonna portante dei miei anni universitari: Grazie. Grazie alle mie amiche Ilenia e Helena per sostenere sempre questa amica pazza che se ne va in giro per il mondo. Ci vediamo meno di quanto vorremmo ma quando siamo insieme la distanza sembra non esserci mai stata. Vi voglio bene! Ringrazio la mia famiglia, per avermi permesso di inseguire i miei sogni e avermi supportato durante tutti questi anni: Grazie, senza di voi non sarei quella che sono oggi. Infine, un ringraziamento particolare va al mio relatore, il professore Mattia Guidi per i suoi preziosi consigli. Mi ha fornito tutti gli strumenti di cui avevo bisogno per intraprendere la strada giusta e portare a compimento la mia tesi: Grazie. Grazie a tutti! Alessia Santoro 2 Table of Contents Ringraziamenti 2 Abstract 5 Abbreviations and Acronyms 6 List of Figures 7 Introduction 8-12 Introduction: is China the next Hegemon? 13-23 Chapter 1: The Path to Economic Openness: from a Closed economy to Globalization 1. The Sino-Soviet split 24-26 2. The history of China’s eConomiC development: 26-32 2.1.China’s eConomy prior to reforms 26-28 2.2.The importance of thirty years of reforms 28-32 3. The WTO aCCession: a long Journey: 33-46 3.1.Bilateral Agreements 36-37 3.2.Multilateral Steps 37-39 3.3.Approval and ACCeptance 39-40 4. Conclusion 40-41 Chapter 2: The domestic adaptation to WTO requirements: the impact on agriculture and hukou system 1. Fulfilling the WTO’s criteria: the process of adaptation 42-46 2. AgriCulture 46-54 2.1.The agriCultural seCtor pre- WTO 47-49 2.1.1. The Household Responsibility System 50-51 2.2. The AgriCultural seCtor post-WTO 51-54 3. The Household Registration System: restriCtion on labor-mobility 54-61 3.1. The establishment of the Hukou System and its development 3.1.1. From 1951 to 2001 54-56 3.1.2. The Hukou system post-2001 56-59 3.1.3. The Hukou system today: latest reforms 60-61 4. Conclusion 61-62 Chapter 3: China and the WTO: What are the main consequences after almost 20 years? the economic and social implications 1. EConomiC development 63-75 3 1.1.What happened to the AgriCultural seCtor: evidences and future prospeCts. 67-71 1.2.An imbalanced growth: evidence from the coastal-inland divide. 71-75 2. The social impliCations of the ACCession to the WTO 75-83 2.1.The rural-urban divide: income inequality in modern China 76-80 2.2.The New Poor: Urban Poverty 80-83 3. What still need to be aChieved: Present and Future Commitments 83-89 3.1.Is China ready to be the next hegemon? 87-89 4. Conclusion 89-90 Conclusions and Final Considerations 91-96 References and Bibliography 97-106 4 Abstract The following dissertation proposes an analysis of China’s process of openness to West and how the Country adapted to the new Western standards. To promote an analysis of the effeCts brought by the process of eConomiC openness and international engagement, the following thesis will begin from the late 1970s, when Deng Xiaoping initiated the famous period of reforms. New poliCies whiCh affeCted all the eConomy, starting from the agriCultural seCtor, industrial seCtor and finally the serviCes seCtor. Following the process of reforms, the focus of the dissertation will be shift on the WTO aCCession process, whiCh is Considered as one of longest and most arduous negotiation ever experienced by the GATT/WTO After fifteen years of negotiations, China was admitted in the World Trade Organization in 2001. The effeCts brought by the WTO in the Chinese eConomy and society Constitute the main focus of this thesis; the eConomiC effeCts on some seCtors will be analysed, the social impliCation will be also analysed. Furthermore, the future Commitments of the Chinese Government as regards some domestiC Challenges constitute the final part of this thesis. The dissertation will be sustained by the bibliography and references, whiCh include the use of OffiCial Document, ACademiC Reports, Newspapers and Working Papers. Furthermore, the thesis will be supported by the appliCation of the hegemoniC stability theory, the approaCh of neo-realist as Gilpin will be used. 5 Abbreviations and Acronyms EU: European Union FAO: Food and AgriCulture Organization of the United Nations FDI: Foreign DireCt Investment GATT: General Agreement on Trade and Tariff GDP: Gross DomestiC Product HDI: Human Development Index HRS: Household Responsibility System HST: HegemoniC Stability Theory IMF: International Monetary Fund MFA: Ministry of Foreign Affairs MFN: Most Favoured Nation MOA: Ministry of AgriCulture. NBS: National Bureau of StatistiCs PRC: People’s RepubliC of China SDPC: State Development and Planning Committee SEZ: SpeCial EConomiC Zone TRIPS: Trade Related AspeCts of IntelleCtual Property Rights TRM: Transitional Review MeChanism TRQs: Tariff – rate Quotas TVEs: Township and Village Enterprises U.S: United States UN: United Nations UNDAF: United Nations Development Assistance Framework UNDP: United Nations Development Programme WB: World Bank WTO: World Trade Organization 6 List of Figures Figure 1: Map of China Figure 2: China’s Grain Output from 1978 to 2006 Figure 3: China’s GDP from 1978 to 2012 Figure 4: WTO ACCession Process Figure 5: Income in China: Urban vs Rural from 1978 – 2009 Figure 6: China’s GDP composition in 2010 Figure 7: Chongqing Region’s population Figure 8: Urban population as % of Total population Figure 9: Growth per Region in 2000 Figure 10: Urban – Rural Income per capita from 1978 to 2012 Figure 11: Income growth Rural – Urban from 1990 to 2014 7 Introduction China is today Considered as the direCt Competitor to U.S., in terms of eConomiC and politiCal power. EConomiCally and socially speaking, the path undertook by Deng Xiaoping in 1978 shaped a new China, powerful and influent in the international system. AcCording to the World Bank, even if the sustained eConomiC growth has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty (more than 800 million), China still remains a developing Country with many people still living below the nations’ offiCial poverty level1. The World Bank Considers China as a developing Country beCause of the per capita income whiCh is still a fraCtion of that in advanced Countries. Furthermore, as reported by China’s Current poverty standard (per capita rural net income of RMB 2,300 per year in 2010 Constant priCes), there were fifty-five million poor in rural areas in 2015. PoliCy adjustments are required in order for China’s growth to be sustainable. China’s 12th Five-Year-Plan (2011-2015) and the newly approved 13th Five-Year-Plan (2016-2020) address these issues. The two plans both highlight the development of serviCes and measures to address environmental and social imbalances, to expand social proteCtion, to improve aCCess to education and healtHCare. The annual growth target in the 12th Five-Year Plan was 7 percent and the growth target in the 13th Five-Year Plan is 6.5 Percent, whiCh refleCt the rebalancing of the eConomy and the focus on the quality of growth in aCCordance with the goal of aChieving a “moderately prosperous society” by 2020 (World Bank, 2017). However, China Could not have aChieved these outComes if it had not embarked on a path of market’s opening as it did after the death of Chairman Mao Zedong, with the leadership of Deng Xiaoping and his idea of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” (中国特色社会主义 - Zhōngguó tèsè shèhuìzhǔyì). In less than thirty years, China Changed and what Contributed to the sucCess of these reforms was the modality of implementation whiCh was used: Gradualism and not a shock therapy. It is important to understand, what a “socialism with Chinese CharaCteristiCs” is; aCCording to Professor Liu Jianwu from the Hunan University of SCience and TeChnology, the idea of Deng Xiaoping differs from the socialism proposed by Marx and Engels, or from the socialism of the Soviet Model, it diverges also from the “Surmonting Stage” socialism in past China. It is different from the model proposed by Marx and Engels beCause it was not born after an experience with Capitalism but on the basis of baCkward eConomy and Culture.