(Source: "Global Times" 2020-05-19)
Tu Xinquan
The COVID-19 epidemic has impacted the world economy from multiple angles. First, it led to countries adopting blockade measures, cutting off the flow of people and goods, impeding or even interrupting the economic cycle, and hitting aviation, tourism and other service industries particularly hard. Secondly, it has led to severe economic recession in many countries and a significant drop in demand. Third, the global supply chain has been disrupted, making it difficult for manufacturing production to operate. Finally, the epidemic has induced nationalism and racism in some countries, worsening the atmosphere for international cooperation.
The epidemic has exposed two risks in the global supply chain: First, supply chains that are too fragmented or too long are vulnerable to emergencies such as epidemics. As long as such an event breaks out in a country or region where a certain link of the supply chain is located, it may cause the entire supply chain and production chain to break; second, due to the development of communication and transportation technology, most companies choose to adopt just-in-time production or minimum inventory strategies to minimize costs. However, emergencies like the epidemic cause temporary interruptions in supply, and low inventory may make production impossible. As a result, companies may have to sacrifice efficiency in favor of greater security in their supply chains and greater resilience in their inventories while the outlook for the COVID-19 pandemic remains highly uncertain.
However, economic globalization has its basic economic laws and psychological foundation. Although the epidemic has brought temporary impact, the laws of market economy that pursue higher efficiency are still in play, and the driving force for seeking greater and freer flows of goods, services, personnel, capital, and data still exists. Therefore, globalization cannot be completely denied just because of the epidemic, nor can it be used as a reason to adopt w88 and investment protection measures to interrupt the global supply chain.
The epidemic has dealt a heavy blow to world w88, and the flaws in the world trading system have adversely affected countries' fight against the epidemic. First, many anti-epidemic materials, including medical supplies, still have high tariffs; second, many countries have arbitrarily adopted measures to restrict exports; third, the standards for anti-epidemic materials in various countries are inconsistent, and customs inspection procedures are inconsistent, hindering the smooth flow of anti-epidemic materials; fourth, some countries are trying to promote corporate restructuring of supply chains through policies, which will inevitably lead to new w88 protection and investment restrictions.
The current predicament facing the WTO is caused by many factors, among which the extremely irresponsible and destructive practices adopted by the United States in recent years cannot be exempted from the blame. On the one hand, the United States continues to obstruct the appointment of judges to the Appellate Body, which eventually led to the suspension of the Appellate Body at the end of last year; on the other hand, it has repeatedly adopted unilateral w88 protection measures that clearly violate WTO rules, seriously damaging the authority of the WTO. In addition, the United States has also provoked many controversial issues in the WTO, such as the special and differential treatment of developing countries, which has led to increased differences among WTO members and the loss of the atmosphere of cooperation. Therefore, although the WTO Secretariat has tried its best to promote relevant cooperation since the outbreak of the epidemic, given the bad atmosphere that has been formed before, it is difficult to expect that the WTO can produce substantive results.
As an important member of the WTO and the world's largest trading country, China has performed well in epidemic prevention and control and in safeguarding world w88. China controlled the epidemic in a short period of time and quickly resumed work and production, making a huge contribution to ensuring the circulation of the global supply chain. China has always firmly supported the WTO. On April 30, China joined 18 other members including the European Union to jointly establish a multi-party interim appeal arbitration arrangement to maintain an independent international w88 arbitration system. China has not taken any w88 restrictive measures, but is working hard to provide anti-epidemic materials and other goods that meet standards to the world. It should be said that China has played an exemplary role as a major trading country. After all, the WTO is a member-driven international organization. Only when each member, especially the major members, actively assumes the obligation to maintain w88 liberalization and global supply chains can it truly play its role. China should also work with other willing WTO members to resolutely resist those irrational anti-intellectualists who attempt to re-erect border barriers and dismantle global supply chains, and push the WTO to take positive actions in reducing tariffs on anti-epidemic materials and harmonizing related product standards. No matter who initiated globalization, it has become the common wealth of mankind, and we should work together to defend and improve it. (The author is the dean of the China WTO Research Institute at the w88 casino)
Attached original text link:https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/3yIBKqEWys3
