We are all reborn, who wants to be the richest man?

Chapter 666 Reopening
“Why do we want to join GATT? It’s because we don’t want to fall behind or be passive.

What is the basis of all this? It's economics.

Without a solid economic foundation, it is impossible to support the grand construction and development blueprint.

Without steady economic growth, it is impossible to provide sufficient financial support for scientific research and innovation.

Similarly, without a prosperous economy as a foundation, it is difficult for a country to achieve true prosperity and general wealth among its people.

Economic prosperity is an indispensable cornerstone for promoting comprehensive social progress, enhancing the country's comprehensive strength and people's well-being.

I deeply agree with Mr. Luo's unique insights. As the cornerstone of social operation, the importance of economy is self-evident.

When looking at the future situation of conflict and competition, an increasingly prominent trend is that the game in the economic field will increasingly become the dominant force, surpassing the traditional form of warfare centered on traditional hot weapons.

This indicates that as globalization deepens, competition between countries and regions will focus more on the competition of economic strength, the efficiency of resource allocation, and the competition for market influence, rather than relying solely on direct confrontation of military forces.

Therefore, building a solid economic foundation, optimizing the economic structure, and enhancing international economic competitiveness have immeasurable strategic value for maintaining the country's long-term security and development.

In 1994, there was no WTO yet, it was now called the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Rabbit is actually one of the founding members of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in its early days. Unfortunately, in the long course of history, due to the influence of a variety of complex factors, its membership status was ultimately not widely recognized and formally established.

Subsequently, as the clarion call of reform and opening up was quietly sounded, in the 1980s the country embarked on a journey of carefully preparing and planning to restore its membership of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

This historic decision not only marks the further deepening and expansion of China's opening-up policy, but also indicates that China will more actively integrate into the global economic system and embark on a magnificent internationalization process.

However, at that time we were faced with a significant problem: under the strict provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, its contracting parties were limited to market economy countries.

This clause is like an insurmountable threshold, which directly limits the possibility of Rabbit applying for membership and makes its path to becoming a GATT member country extremely difficult.

You have to know that at that time, rabbits represented the style of the planned economy era. The sales blueprint of enterprises and the pricing strategy of commodities were not driven by subtle changes in market supply and demand, but were carefully planned and regulated by the state, leading every step of the economy forward.

Under this system, both the sales price of enterprises and the final price of goods follow the unified standards set by the state, ensuring the stability and predictability of the economic order, but also lacking competition and innovation.

Therefore, after 1981, the state began to allow enterprises to produce some additional unplanned goods to enter the market on the basis of completing their production plans.

The pricing strategy for these commodities is entirely guided by the market mechanism and is determined by market forces such as supply and demand and competition situation to ensure the rationality and flexibility of prices.

This market mechanism is the commodity economy we have heard of, and this mechanism is actually capable of adapting to the changing rules of GATT.

However, Western countries do not understand this mechanism. They have only heard of planned economy and market economy. What is commodity economy? We do not recognize it.

In this way, time dragged on until the old man's second southern tour, when he proposed that rabbits could also develop a market economy, which was the final word.

With the application conditions in place, the next step is negotiation. Among all GATT member countries, 36 countries need to negotiate with Rabbit.

Many people may not think that the best negotiating partner is the United States, right?
In 1992, the two sides signed a memorandum, in which the United States pledged to firmly support Rabbit's acquisition of GATT contracting party status, and the first negotiating party was successfully won.

In the following two years, national representatives reached accession agreements one after another with the 36 countries that required negotiations, and victory was in sight.

But no one expected that a meeting would be held just when the re-entry agreement was about to be reached.

On April 1994, 4, the GATT Ministerial Conference was held and the final document of the results of the eighth round of negotiations of the GATT was signed.

Although the state representatives signed the document, they felt extremely heavy-hearted.

Because in addition to this document, representatives of all countries also signed another document, which was the establishment of the World Trade Organization.

The document stipulates that the WTO will be established on January 1995, 1. If Rabbit can resume GATT before the establishment of the WTO, it will be able to join the WTO as a GATT contracting party.

Otherwise, a new round of negotiations will have to be conducted with all WTO member countries that need to negotiate.

The problem now lies in time, and the disagreement between the two sides makes the rabbit very hesitant.

"Is Jack back?".

At the Bauhinia headquarters, standing in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, Luo Nianzhong's tone sounded a little melancholy.

"I boarded the plane in the capital at 9am and will be landing in Hong Kong Island soon."

"Okay, I understand. Let him come over as soon as he comes back."

Welch, Rabbit's economic adviser, was summoned to the capital the night before.

There was only one purpose for summoning him, which was to hear his opinion, or the opinions of the Far East and the Luo family.

Agriculture, finance, telecommunications, etc., there are too many industries in which Rabbit lags behind Western countries.

There is no problem with opening up, which is also one of the conditions for entry into the country. The focus of the debate between the two sides is the speed of development.

Rabbit hopes that the pace of opening up will be consistent with domestic economic development, which requires a longer buffer period, such as more than ten or twenty years.

But this is simply impossible for Western countries. Five or eight years would be good enough.

This is something the rabbits cannot accept. They themselves don't believe that they can develop so quickly.

But for Luo Nianzhong, this condition couldn't be better. Now that the weak rabbit has solved the biggest problem of the beautiful country, the opening time given by the West is completely acceptable.

You should know that when China joined the WTO in 01, the buffer period given to most industries was only two to three years, and many additional conditions were added.

Why? Because it rose too fast.

At this point in time, it should be no problem to talk about delaying it for ten years. For example, industries like finance can be buffered for twenty years without any problem. This is basically the same as the time it took for these industries to be fully opened in the original world.

But it has gained at least five years of rapid development period, which will accelerate the overall development speed of rabbits.

Why do we need to join the WTO? Isn’t it because we have already demonstrated the potential to become the world’s factory but don’t have the funds to build it?

Light industry is currently the product that Rabbit exports the most to foreign countries, and it is also the most competitive commodity in global trade.

Our textiles are of good quality and low price, but they just can’t be sold. Even if they are sold, they can’t be sold at a good price.

Is it that no one in the West buys our textiles? Not really. Many countries are lining up to buy our textiles.

Why can't they sell it? Because of the quota system. The West imposes a quota system on various countries. It doesn't mean that if you have cheap products, they should buy yours. Instead, it is to help other developing countries develop.

Of course, this is just a nice rhetoric, but they just want to make the economies of small countries dependent on them.

But if Rabbit can resume trading, all these problems will be solved, and we can sell it however we want.

Another reason is the industry. As we all know, China later developed a complete industrial chain, which has always been our pride.

But many people don’t know how the entire industrial chain came about. This is because of the Internet bubble in the United States. Capital has lost confidence in the U.S. market and needs a safe haven for funds.

At this time, China's basic infrastructure was in place. The entire coastal area had a highway network, power construction and railway construction had caught up, and all infrastructure had been completed.

In addition, compulsory education was popularized in this era, and 95% of the population had achieved universal education by graduating from junior high school, so it suddenly became the largest country for foreign investment.

When did the big capital of the United States start to invest in China? It was after 911/. Before that, it was all small capital, all of which were low-level, and the industries invested in were all labor-intensive.

It was after 911/ that a large amount of foreign capital flowed in, and they moved all industries to China because China already had the conditions to become the world's factory.

The coming of large factories will inevitably produce a siphon effect, because the industrial system needs to be preserved intact and gathered together to reduce costs. Therefore, big capital has moved a large number of manufacturing industries to China to build factories, and those supporting manufacturers must also follow suit.

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This is also the reason why Luo Nianzhong hopes that Rabbit will be reopened as soon as possible, because the development of the Internet in this life has shifted, and the bursting of the Internet bubble will definitely be advanced.

If Rabbit cannot reopen now and delays until around 2001, Luo Nianzhong will need to help the Internet survive until then. It feels very passive not to have the initiative in his hands, and even a single mistake could cause the Luo family to fall into the abyss.

But he had to do this, because only when Rabbit became strong could the Luo family become strong, and this great opportunity must be seized.

Of course, Luo Nianzhong’s eagerness to resume relations was not entirely due to his concern for the motherland; there were also many personal reasons.

Agriculture, technology, telecommunications, services, and other industries where rabbits are weak.

It’s not that you don’t have the ability to compete with the West, but the Far East does.

If you have to choose between the two, which one do you think the above person will choose?
Luo Nianzhong was interrupted while thinking by the sound of the door opening. He turned around and saw Welch, who looked a little tired.

"You look very tired. Why don't you go home directly, have a good rest and recharge your energy."

Luo Qi was very worried that Welch would fall. It would be very troublesome if Welch fell at this time.

Neither John Whitebo nor Chris Limit was able to take over the giant ship of the Far East. It would take a long time to fully familiarize themselves with the business, not to mention convincing the public.

If Welch really fell, then the only one who could lead the Far East ship to continue sailing at high speed would be Luo Nianzhong.

If this happens, Luo Nianzhong will be completely tied up. He will not be able to deal with or think about many things. This will affect the layout of the Luo family, like a double-edged sword.

"Need not".

Welch waved his hand and casually sat on the sofa, skillfully making Kung Fu tea, not looking like a foreigner at all.

"I just didn't get enough rest. I'll be fine after going back to my office and having some rest."

Luo Nianzhong observed him carefully, and was relieved when he saw that his face was not pale but just tired.

Historically, the other party was not a short-lived person. Now Far East conducts health checks on senior executives every six months and also uses Chinese medicine to regulate their diet on a regular basis, so there should be no problem.

"Well, okay, you should also take care of your health. The Far East can't do without you now."

Luo Nianzhong did not force it and said a few words of concern. Then they both fell silent until Welch placed the cup of tea in front of Luo Nianzhong with smooth movements and then he spoke.

"There, I have elaborated on all the content that should be conveyed, and based on your in-depth analysis, I have clearly told the other party both the pros and cons."

"How is it? What's the attitude over there?"

Looking at Luo Nianzhong's expectant expression, Welch thought for a moment and reviewed in his mind the people he had come into contact with and the situations he had learned over the past two days.

"I can only say that it is possible, and the possibility is very high, but it is definitely not 100% certain."

What is the focus of the debate there? The pros and cons of rejoining the WTO, or in other words, there are two views.

One is blind pessimism, believing that rejoining the GATT is equivalent to fully opening up the market and implementing a fully market economy.

Needless to say, the influx of a large number of foreign goods and services will have a strong impact on domestic factories and enterprises.

Another view is that rejoining the GATT is a golden opportunity. While enjoying the world's multilateral trade and investment, exports, trade and GDP will all increase significantly.

When a country has money, it can invest more in developing a strong country.

This time, Welch went there not only to explain the importance of rejoining the WTO from the perspectives of economic, political and geopolitical environment.

He also brought a piece of news, that is, the Far East Group is willing to cooperate with some domestic companies to help the development of backward domestic industries.

Such as finance, insurance, technology and many other fields.

Of course, support is support, but the skill of climbing trees cannot be allowed to be learned by others. The core technology cannot be given up, and everyone understands this.

However, it is enough to help lay the foundation in the country, and this condition is very attractive.

"But don't be too happy. There is less than a month left until January 1st, and we are very rushed."

“I know this, but as long as the West makes concessions, nothing is impossible.

I have already mobilized my connections in the United States and tried my best to lobby the White House to make further concessions on the opening time."

Even though the United States was the first country to agree to rejoin the WTO with the Rabbit, the problem now lies with them.

Let’s look at the countries that did not reach an agreement, Mexico and Canada. These two are both countries in the newly established North American Free Trade Area, and the United States is the dominant country in this area.

Why did the WTO suddenly get established? Wasn't it because the United States wanted to renegotiate? The timing also shows the relationship between the two countries.

That was the honeymoon period, but now that Polaris has fallen, can you still make concessions?

(End of this chapter)