China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has benefited itself a lot, and also contributed to global economic growth during the past two decades, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official has said.
Calling China's WTO accession a "blessing" to the country, Changyong Rhee, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, told Xinhua in a recent virtual interview that he has seen a "huge difference" in China after it became a WTO member and opened its market to the world.
China, South Korea and some other Asian countries are great examples of growing economies through trade, which has also benefited the consumers of many advanced economies, Rhee noted.
"I think we have to really advocate and advertise the importance of trade to the world," Rhee said, adding that many low-income countries in Latin America, Africa and even Asia can follow this practice.
The IMF official noted that free trade definitely improves overall growth and social welfare, but "not everybody is winning." Some people suffer from trade and some governments were not making many policy efforts to "compensate and protect them," he added.
That is why there is a backlash for globalization and trade, he said. "But I think we have to educate people and we have to emphasize the scientific evidence that trade is still a very important growth force."
China's fiscal consolidation last year was quite significant, as part of the policy to accelerate the de-leveraging process, he noted.
"We believe China has a lot of tools and public spaces," but how China uses those tools will be very important for balancing the efforts to support economic growth and deleverage in the medium term, the IMF official said.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
