China's Growth Treadmill: Globalization, Human Rights and International Relations

Abstract

Although as a rising world power China appears to have successfully integrated into a new interdependent world, globalization has often had unintended consequences, not only for its domestic developments, in particular its human rights, but also for its international relations. One of the defining influences on its mode of integration has been the historical circumstances of its initial exclusion from the United Nations, and its effective entry into the international community at a time when the market ruled supreme in almost all fields of endeavor. That China embraced the market eagerly and swiftly without considering its impact on its citizens' human rights is perhaps not surprising in the light of its authoritarian political system. But it has also embraced the market without internalizing the sine qua non of market success – acceptance of the rule of law and the need for transparency in its international policies. The consequences of its selective acceptance of the norms of globalization and its partial integration into the international system are highlighted in an analysis of the effects of its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The impact of its membership on both its human rights and international relations reveals the drawbacks of the developmental path that China has chosen.

Notes

Ann Kent is an Australian Research Fellow of the Australian Research Council at the Centre for International and Public Law, Faculty of Law, Australian National University.

See, for instance, Gao Feng, ‘China and the Principle of Sovereign Equality in the 21^st Century’, in Sienho Yee and Wang Tieya (eds), International Law in the Post-Cold War World: Essays in Memory of Li Haopei (London: Routledge, 2001), p. 239; and Wang Guiguo, ‘Sovereignty in Global Economic Integration: A Chinese Perspective’, in ibid., pp. 358–62.

See Ann Kent, ‘China's International Socialization: The Role of International Organizations’, Global Governance, Vol. 8 (2002), pp. 343–64.

Thus, it saw the establishment of the International Telegraphic Bureau (later named International Telegraphic Union (ITU)) in 1868, the General Postal Union (later Universal Postal Union) in 1874, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (1875), the International Union for the Publication of Customs Tariffs (1890), and the international health offices in Havana, Vienna and Paris in 1881 and 1901. See Clive Archer, International Organizations, Second Edition (London: Routledge, 1992), p. 13.

Ibid., p. 14, citing Yearbook of International Organizations (1974), 15^th edn, Brussels: Union of International Associations.

Jerome Alan Cohen and Hongdah Chiu (eds), People's China and International Law: A Documentary Survey (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1974), p. 12.

See Susan Ariel Aaronson, Trade and the American Dream: A Social History of Postwar Trade Policy (Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1996), p. 3. See also Milton Churche, ‘The Havana Charter for an International Trade Organization of 1948 and the World Trade Organization in Comparative Perspective’, Economic History Seminar, Australian National University, Canberra, Sept. 7, 2001.

China was not denied all international organizational experience in this period. It joined or sent observers to the following communist intergovernmental organizations: the International Organization for the Cooperation of Railways; the Organization for Postal and Telecommunications Cooperation among Socialist Countries; the Fisheries Research Commission for the Western Pacific; the Warsaw Treaty Organization; and the Council for Mutual Economic Aid. For details, see Cohen and Chiu, People's China, pp. 1399–1401.

China adopted the ‘trickle down’ attitude to economic development, seeing growth as the only solution for poverty and social problems. Thus, China's Governor for the Bank, Xiang Huaicheng insisted that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ‘should help developing countries achieve stable and steady growth, which in turn will help reduce poverty and solve social issues’. See ‘Statement by the Hon. Mr Xiang Huaicheng, Governor of the Bank for the People's Republic of China, at the Joint Annual Discussion, ‘Statement by the Hon. Mr Xiang Huaicheng … Washington DC’, Board of Governors Press Release No 15 (Washington DC, September 29–30, 1999), p. 3.

Ann Kent, China, the United Nations and Human Rights: The Limits of Compliance (Philadelphia, PA: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), pp. 42–8.

See Ann Kent, Between Freedom and Subsistence: China and Human Rights (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 167–77.

Ibid., pp. 206–9.

Ibid., pp. 233–8.

Ibid., pp. 193–4.

China's four modernization goals consisted of the preservation of a peaceful international environment; maintenance of a credible nuclear deterrent; modernization of the Chinese economy; and enhancement of China's position in the international community.

Ann Kent, ‘China and International Organizations’, unpublished manuscript.

Kent, ‘China's International Socialization’, p. 355.

Gong Wen and Zhang Xiangchen, ‘Comment on General Trend of China's Entry into WTO’, People's Daily, May 7, 1999, pp. 1–2.

See Shi Guangsheng, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, statement reported in ‘China's Stance on WTO Accession Unchanged’, People's Daily, March 13, 2001.

See Pitman B. Potter, The Chinese Legal System: Globalization and Local Culture (London: Routledge, 2001).

For instance, under the agricultural agreement, brokered in Washington in April 1999, the US won substantial concessions: the average tariff for agricultural products would be cut to 17 percent from 21.2 percent, with the average tariff for US priority products falling to 14.5 percent. All tariffs would be phased out by 2004. Quantitative restrictions, except for major agricultural products such as wheat, rice, corn, cotton and table sugar, would be eliminated. See Paul Mooney, ‘Post-WTO Shocks for China's Farmers’, http://www.chinaonline.com/issues/wto/NewsArchives/cs-protected/2000/january/C00011721.asp. Jan. 17, 2000.

According to US Trade Representative, Charlene Barchevsky, it ‘secures broad-ranging, comprehensive, one-way trade concessions on China's part, granting the United States substantially greater market access across the spectrum of industrial goods, services and agriculture’. See ‘Barchevsky on China WTO, Congressional Trade Status Vote’, Feb. 29, 2000, available at: http://www.chinaonline.com/commentary, my emphasis.

‘Chinese Reform Expert Proposes Countermeasures for WTO Challenges’, Xinhua News Agency, March 7, 2000; Reuters China News, March 7, 2000.

China's consciousness of the deleterious impact its accession would have on human rights, in particular, workers' rights, was revealed in a speech by Politburo Politics and Law Committee Chairman, Luo Gan, in which he underscored the Party's commitment to use China's legal system to protect against worker unrest and social instability in the wake of WTO accession. Cited in Pitman Potter, ‘Are Human Rights on China's WTO Agenda?’, China Rights Forum, No. 1, (2002), p. 9.

Ibid.

United States Trade Representative, 2002 Report to Congress on China's WTO Compliance (Washington DC: USTR, Dec. 11, 2002).

Ibid., pp. 35–50.

See Economist Intelligence Unit, ‘Financial Reforms Delayed’, available at: http://www.chinaonline.com; and Premier Zhu Rongji, ‘Report on the Work of the Government’, March 5, 2000, http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/features/workreport/home.html. Only one person in ten is currently covered by social insurance. According to figures from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, 150.77 million people of a total of 1.3 billion are covered by pension schemes. See ‘Social Security Insurance Soaring in China’, Xinhua Newsagency, Aug. 1, 2003.

See Dorothy J. Solinger, ‘WTO Entry: Will China Benefit from this “Win-Win” Deal?’, China Rights Forum, No. 1, (2002), p. 7.

Ibid., p. 4.

See, generally, China Labour Bulletin; Scott Greathead, ‘Global Trade and Labor Rights: Uneasy Bedfellows’, China Rights Forum, No. 1, (2003), pp. 27–9; and Erik Eckholm, ‘Tide of China's Migrants: Flowing to Boom or Bust?’, New York Times, July 29, 2003.

Solinger, ‘WTO Entry’, pp. 4–5.

‘Over 10 Percent of Chinese Live in Dire Poverty – Expert’, Reuters News, July 10, 2003.

Carl J. Dahlman and Jean-Eric Aubert, ‘China and the Knowledge Economy: Seizing the 21^st Century’, World Bank Institute Development Studies, Oct. 2001. According to the report, Chinese cities create 5.5–6.5 million jobs a year. But 8–9 million will be needed as many employees in state-owned enterprises and small rural companies, are laid off. The report also acknowledged that ‘other projections estimate the amount of new jobs to be created at a much higher level – in the range of 200 to 300 million in the next ten years, due to the potential for lay-offs of half of the population currently working in agriculture, SOEs and TVEs', ibid., p. 16.

See also World Bank report, ‘China: Weathering the Storm and Learning the Lessons’, 1999.

‘World Bank Says China's Economic Challenge Mounting’, China Securities Bulletin, June 18, 1997; Reuters China News, June 18, 1999.

The World Bank Group, The World Bank and China’, Country Brief, available at: http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/offrep/eap/china.htm (accessed Nov. 8, 2001).

See Human Development Index (HDI) in United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2003, available at: http://www.undp.org. China is ranked 104th in its HDI, in the category of Medium Human Development Level, behind states and territories like Turkey, Ecuador, Sri Lanka and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, but ahead of Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Egypt. On the other hand, based on 1998 figures, its Gini index, which measures inequality in income or consumption, is 40.3, higher than Vietnam's (36.2), Indonesia's (30.3), India's (37.8) and Egypt's (34.4). For recent unrest, see ‘Chinese Steelworkers Protest Outside Beijing Government Offices’, Chung Kuo Lao Kung Tung Hsun website, Hong Kong, Aug. 5, 2003, www.bbcmonitoringonline.com.

‘Premier Preoccupied with Rural Areas, Unemployment, Poverty’, Xinhua News Agency, March 18, 2003.

See Andrew Batson, ‘China Expands Social Welfare System to Include Farmers’, Dow Jones Newswires, March 17, 2003; and ‘Vagrants Get Aid as New System Begins’, Xinhua News Agency, Aug. 1, 2003.

See Kent, ‘China's International Socialization’, pp. 356–7; Pieter Bottelier, ‘The Impact of WTO Membership on China's Domestic Economy’, Parts 1 and 2, available at: http://www.chinaonline.com/commentary, Jan. 3, 2001; Zhao Wei, ‘China's WTO Accession: Commitments and Prospects’, Journal of World Trade, Vol. 32 (1998), pp. 51–75; and Sharon K. Hom, ‘China and the WTO: Year One’, China Rights Forum, No. 1, (2003), pp. 12–19. For particularly valuable insights, see the proceedings of the conference, ‘China and the World Trade Organization’, Australian National University Faculty of Law, Canberra, March 16–17, 2001; and Deborah Z. Cass, Brett G. Williams and George Barker (eds), China and the World Trading System: Entering the New Millennium (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).

Kent, ‘China's International Socialization’, p. 357. See also Bottelier, ‘The Impact of WTO Membership’.

For excellent analysis, see Minxin Pei, ‘China's Governance Crisis’, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 81 No. 5, (Sept./Oct. 2002), pp. 96–109.

See Javed Siddiqi, World Health and World Politics: The World Health Organization and the UN System (London: C. Hurst and Co., 1995), p. 112.

See text of WHO constitution available at: http://www.wpro.who.int/public/policy/cons/_toc.asp (accessed April 23, 2003). The Constitution entered into force on April 7, 1948. Amendments were accepted by the 26th, 29th and 39th World Health Assembly (Res. WHA 26.37, WHA 29.38 and WHA 39.6) and came into force on Feb. 3, 1977, Jan. 20, 1984 and July 11, 1994 respectively. David Fidler has argued that, because the scope of WHO's International Health Regulations is so narrow, China had no obligation under Art. 2 of the Constitution to report the SARS outbreak to WHO or any other state. See David P. Fidler, ‘SARS and International Law’, ASIL Insights, April 2003, available at: http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh101.htm (accessed May 19, 2003). However, according to Don Greig, a case can be made out that the functions of the Organization under Art. 2 to act as the directing and coordinating authority on international health work are so broad that it would be impossible for the Organization to carry out those functions effectively unless there were an implied obligation upon member states to keep it informed of all major national developments relevant to its mandate.

Kent, ‘China and International Organizations’.

Joseph Kahn, ‘China Discovers Medical Secrecy is Expensive’, New York Times, April 13, 2003

See, for instance, Bates Gill, Jennifer Chang and Sarah Palmer, ‘China's HIV Crisis’, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 80, No. 2 (March/April 2002), pp. 96–210.

See Elisabeth Rosenthal, ‘AIDS Scourge in Rural China Leaves Villages of Orphans’, New York Times, Aug. 25, 2002; Elisabeth Rosenthal, ‘China Frees AIDS Activist After Month of Outcry’, New York Times, Sept. 21, 2002; Nicholas D. Kristof, ‘China's Deadly Cover-up’, New York Times, Nov. 29, 2002; and Elisabeth Rosenthal, ‘Despite Law, China's HIV Patients Suffer Bias’, New York Times, Jan. 14, 2003.

‘Annan Warns China of an AIDS Epidemic’, New York Times, Oct. 15, 2002.

Gill, Chang and Palmer, ‘China's HIV Crisis’, p. 97.

Denise Grady, ‘SARS: From China's Secret to a Worldwide Alarm’, International Herald Tribune, April 8, 2003.

Thomas Crampton, ‘With SARS on Rise, China Disputes UN's Travel Warning’, International Herald Tribune, April 5, 2003.

‘China Apologizes As WHO Tracks SARS Path’, Associated Press, April 4, 2003, available at: http://www.jsonline.com.

Thomas Crampton, ‘China Admits SARS is Spreading’, International Herald Tribune, April 15, 2003.

Grady, ‘SARS: From China's Secret’; and ‘WHO: China Too Slow in Reporting SARS’, VOA, April 7, 2003, available at: http://www.voanews.com.

Reported on ABC Radio National News, April 20, 2003.

Chris Taylor, ‘The Chinese Plague’, The Sunday Age, May 4, 2003, p. 6.

‘China Punishes 120 Officials over SARS – Xinhua’, Reuters, May 8, 2003, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters. This was said to be the first time so many officials had been punished over one affair.

‘China Pledges All Resources to Fight SARS’, Reuters, May 12, 2003, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters.

Rather than 19 people with three deaths, as officially indicated, the real figure was much higher. See John Pomfret, ‘Doctor Says Health Ministry Lied about Disease’, Washington Post, April 10, 2003.

Ibid.

Jonathan Mirsky, ‘Secrecy and the Spread of SARS’, New York Review of Books, reproduced in ‘Review’, Australian Financial Review, May 16, 2003, p. 9.

See Minxin Pei, ‘A Country That Does Not Take Care of Its People’, Financial Times, April 8, 2003, p. 19.

Cited in Mirsky, ‘Secrecy and the Spread of SARS’.

Ellen Bork, ‘China's SARS Problem, and Ours’, The Daily Standard, April 4, 2003. See also AAP, ‘Taiwanese Say WHO is Ignoring Them’, New York Times, March 30, 2003.

Joseph Kahn with Keith Bradsher, ‘China Allows UN Agency to Help Fight Illness on Taiwan’, New York Times, May 4, 2003.

‘China Welcomes Taiwan Presence at WHO SARS Meeting’, Xinhua News Agency, June 17, 2003.

‘Taiwan Leader Says China Talks Unlikely to Resume’, Reuters News, July 4, 2003.

Joseph Kahn, ‘China Has Quelled SARS, World Health Agency Says’, New York Times, June 25, 2003.

‘SARS Batters Chinese Economy’, Associated Press, May 4, 2003, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business (accessed May 5, 2003).

‘News Analysis – How China Maintains Robust, Soaring Economy’, Xinhua News Agency, July 6, 2003.

Bing Lan, ‘SARS No Snag for Economy’, China Daily, July 1, 2003.

Chris Buckley, ‘SARS Does Little to Slow China's Growth’, New York Times, July 11, 2003; and David Murphy, ‘China: Roaring Ahead: Evidence Suggests that SARS Did Not Seriously Dent Investors’ Long-Term Confidence in the Economy’, Far Eastern Economic Review, July 17, 2003.

See ‘Refilling Farmers’ SARS-Hit Pockets’, China Daily, Aug. 2, 2003.

Mirsky, ‘Secrecy and the Spread of SARS’.

Gill, Chang and Palmer, ‘China's HIV Crisis’, p. 110.

‘Supreme Court Announces Harsh Sentences for SARS-Related Offenses’, Interfax China Business News, May 15, 2003; Bill Savadove, ‘State May Impose Death Penalty for Spreading Disease’, South China Morning Post, May 16, 2003, p. 4; and Joseph Kahn, ‘Man's Virus Infects Town, Killing His Family’, New York Times, May 15, 2003.

John Pomfret, ‘Chinese Scandals Lead to Media Crackdown’, Guardian Weekly, June 26–July 2, 2003, p. 31.

See World Bank, China, The Health Sector (Washington DC: IBRD, 1984). For summary of findings in this and related World Bank reports, see Kent, Between Freedom and Subsistence, pp. 160–6.

Kent, Between Freedom and Subsistence, p. 163.

Mure Dickie, ‘SARS Thrives as China's Public Health System Flags – Greater Reliance on Patients to Pay for their Own Medical Costs’, Financial Times, May 8, 2003, p. 12; and Taylor, ‘The Chinese Plague’.

‘SARS Toll Tops 500, China Fears Growing Epidemic’, Reuters, May 8, 2003, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters (accessed May 9, 2003).

‘China Rounds Up 64 for Rioting over SARS’, May 7, 2003, available at http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international (accessed May 9, 2003). See also Erik Eckholm, ‘Thousands Riot in Rural Chinese Town over SARS’, New York Times, April 28, 2003.

Cited in Erik Eckholm, ‘Spread of SARS Acts as a Rude Awakening for China’, New York Times, May 13, 2003.

Ibid.

‘WHO Chief Says Need for Openness Key SARS Lesson’, Reuters News, July 11, 2003.

Joseph Kahn, ‘When Crises Strike, China's Leaders Adapt to Survive’, New York Times, May 4, 2003.

Erik Eckholm, ‘China Said to Take Two Weeks to Disclose Sub Disaster’, New York Times, May 5, 2003. One straw in the wind was the disclosure on May 3 by former President Jiang Zemin, two weeks after the event, of a submarine disaster which had killed 70 Chinese crew members. Given that military accidents in China are normally cloaked in the highest secrecy, Jiang's revelation could have been related to a new leadership consciousness about the need for transparency.

Kahn, ‘China Has Quelled SARS’.

Jonathan Mirsky, ‘Containing SARS: The scandal over Taiwan’, International Herald Tribune, 12 May 2003, at http://www.iht.com.

See also Pei, ‘A Country That Does Not Take Care’; Mary Gallagher, ‘Openness Isn't Enough: Globalization and Political Change in China’, China Rights Forum, No. 1 (2003), pp. 20–24; and Eckholm, ‘Spread of SARS’.

See, for instance, Joseph Kahn, ‘Reticent China Undercuts Its Milder New Image’, New York Times, April 18, 2003.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ann Kent

Ann Kent is an Australian Research Fellow of the Australian Research Council at the Centre for International and Public Law, Faculty of Law, Australian National University.