As WTO members squabble over China's role, dangers lurk for global trade

Twenty years after its World Trade Organization entry, China faces a spectrum of divergent views on its role in the international trading system underpinned by the WTO. This perception gap among countries - ranging from optimism to criticism - could have profound implications for China, other WTO members including the United States, and the WTO itself. It also represents a departure from the global reception of Chinese accession to the WTO in the early years: a historic move welcomed by most members across political lines, economic status and geography. China's journey to WTO membership was long and arduous. It took…