It is remarkable that China would pretend that it does not mix business with politics. Its leaders have refined the art of mixing non-economic issues with commercial transactions by seamlessly blending the public with the private and the political with the commercial. In turn, politics and maintaining the power of the Communist Party are always a primary consideration on the Chinese side during negotiation on trade or any other agenda.
China's leaders mix politics with trade by continuing government controls over capital flows and the extensive requirements to seek official approval to conduct business there. And China has proved to be an expert at dangling access to its domestic markets as a lever in diplomatic disputes, especially concerning Taiwan and Tibet.
China's behavior in this regard should be instructive in terms of its reliability if it should be allowed to join the WTO. Continued use of trade linkages and subtle interventions in its international negotiations will inevitably and perpetually put Beijing into conflict with WTO principles.
Christopher Lingle is an independent corporate consultant and adjunct scholar of the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney who authored The Rise and Decline of the Asian Century.
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