China needs to boost its competitiveness, especially in service trade, to make use of its WTO membership, said WTO experts.
Zheng Zhihai said it was beyond his imagination 10 years ago that China would be the largest exporter and the second-largest economy in the world. Zheng is vice chairman of China Society for WTO Studies, a think tank of the Ministry of Commerce.
"China has developed too fast, and it needs to slow down as some problems have emerged," Zheng said.
China has exported automobiles to other countries, but post-sale service overseas can be a big problem, Zheng said.
Chinese companies are no longer deterred by trade disputes, but they still cannot find Chinese lawyers who can help them deal with WTO cases, Zheng added.
American law firms can set up offices in China, but most of their Chinese peers lack the ability to do the same thing in the United States, said Guan Anping, chief councilor for Beijing Duebound Law Offices.
"The market is there and open, but they just cannot enter," said Guan. Guan is one of the first 10 people to study WTO law.
The government should support the Chinese legal service industry with favorable policies as it is a fledgling industry，said Zheng.
The government can subsidize those who have a good mastery of English and Chinese law to study overseas, Zheng said.
The Ministry of Commerce will hold an international annual service trade fair in Beijing starting in 2012, said Zheng.
"It is the right thing," he said. "There is the Canton fair in Guangzhou for products trade, and there should also be a platform for the service trade."
In the first three quarters of this year, the country's service trade rose 18.7 percent year-on-year to $308.1 billion, with $134.2 billion in exports and $173.9 billion in imports, MOC data showed.
However, China's service added-value accounted for 43 percent of China's GDP last year, while the world average level was 50 percent, according to Zheng.
"For developed countries, it was 70 percent," Zheng added. (Source: www.cnchemicals.com)