China Joins the World: Progress and Prospect” takes into account the many agreements that China has; especially its ascension to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Becoming part of the international trading community is of course a good thing. But WTO is also deployed as a mechanism to rein in the potential excess of Chinese goods in the world system; what is often known as “dumping.”
In the latter, China has not done all that well. “Dumping” is still a regular Chinese behavior, especially in Africa. When China produces an excess amount of goods it cannot sell, nor hoard, it tends to sell them on the cheap elsewhere in the developing world. China’s over-capacity also generates negative externalities likes environmental pollution. These are also the opportunity costs of frenzied economic development; which strangely is another effect of the “tragedy of the commons.”
Instead of exploiting all the resources in the world, China’s frenetic development over the last few decades, for better or for worse, has affected the lives and welfare of almost everyone in the world. Some in the United States have lost their jobs; as labor intensive jobs are exported to China. Some in Southeast Asia have been displaced; especially women in the services sector.