The fall of Communism in most of the world has had little effect on the government of the People's Republic of China, a nation which has resisted any move toward democracy or any other significant change after the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square ended in the violent suppression of dissent. Yet China has to change in terms of its degree of modernization in order to compete in the world markets, and the nurturing of trade ties with the United States and others in the West is one aspect of trying to modernize the industrial and manufacturing sectors of China. The leadership may also hope to do this without raising any serious challenge to the political and social structures they have built, but it is not clear that this can be accomplished. Indeed, U.S. trade policy has been based on the belief that increased trade will have a salutary effect on the Chinese leadership and produce democratic reforms over time. The modernization effort is being carried forth not only by those within China or by her trading partners but also by Chinese living abroad and finding ways to increase business for the home country or to develop China in a wide variety of fields, including the scientific, financial, artistic, tourism, and so on. These Chinese are accomplishing their tasks in a number of different ways as they try to alter the course of their homeland and improve the lives of their people. Part of the effort is an attempt by China to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), and both the possibility of China joining and the organization itself have been the subjects of massive protests, such as those in Seattle last fall and more recently in Washington, D.C.
The WTO was created during the negotiations over NAFTA:
While NAFTA only involves three nations, the Uruguay Round involves most of the countries in the world and affects more than four fifths of world trade. The Uruguay Round creates a standing organization, known as the World...