• Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
Carnegie Global logoCarnegie lettermark logo
DemocracyIran
  • Donate
REQUIRED IMAGE

REQUIRED IMAGE

Paper

China's WTO Commitment on Independent Judicial Review

China's accession to the World Trade Organization thrusts formidable challenges on Chinese leadership to honor promises relating to the country's rule of law developments. The United States and the international community should seize this unprecedented opportunity by directing more resources toward such reform efforts.

Link Copied
By Mei Ying Gechlik (Veron Hung)
Published on Nov 19, 2002

Additional Links

Full Text (PDF)
Program mobile hero image

Program

Asia

The Asia Program in Washington studies disruptive security, governance, and technological risks that threaten peace, growth, and opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region, including a focus on China, Japan, and the Korean peninsula.

Learn More

Source: Carnegie Paper No. 32

Summary
China's accession to the World Trade Organization thrusts formidable challenges on Chinese leadership to honor promises relating to the country's rule of law developments. The United States and the international community should seize this unprecedented opportunity by directing more resources toward such reform efforts.

Realistic goals include assisting China in restructuring the court system to be more independent of local governments and the CCP; advising on fiscal reform; exploring the possibility of a circuit appeal court or separate administrative court system; and assisting in drafting and, later, enforcing laws that would limit the power of CCP organs. These small steps could produce larger scale reform in China.
 

Click on link above for full text of this Carnegie Paper.

About the Author
Veron Mei-Ying Hung
is an associate in Carnegie's China Program. An expert in Chinese law, she has in-depth experience in administrative litigation and judicial reform in China, constitutional development in Hong Kong, human rights, and trade.

A limited number of print copies are available of this report.
Request a copy.

About the Author

Mei Ying Gechlik (Veron Hung)

Former Non-Resident Associate

    Recent Work

  • Paper
    Protecting Intellectual Property Rights in Chinese Courts: An Analysis of Recent Patent Judgments

      Mei Ying Gechlik (Veron Hung)

  • Paper
    Judicial Reform in China: Lessons from Shanghai

      Mei Ying Gechlik (Veron Hung)

Mei Ying Gechlik (Veron Hung)
Former Non-Resident Associate
Mei Ying Gechlik (Veron Hung)
ChinaPolitical ReformDemocracyEconomyTrade

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

  • Commentary
    Strategic Europe
    How to Join the EU in Three Easy Steps

    Montenegro and Albania are frontrunners for EU enlargement in the Western Balkans, but they can’t just sit back and wait. To meet their 2030 accession ambitions, they must make a strong positive case.

      Dimitar Bechev, Iliriana Gjoni

  • Article
    Leveraging Internal Security Cooperation with Vietnam Offers a Glimpse of Future Chinese Diplomacy with Southeast Asia

    Despite long-standing differences, China and Vietnam are reinforcing common ground for collaboration, especially in public security. This internal security–centered diplomacy offers a strengthened road map for how China moves forward with Southeast Asia.

      Sophie Zhuang

  •  A machine gun of a Houthi soldier mounted on a police vehicle next to a billboard depicting the U.S. president Donald Trump and Mohammed Bin Salman, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, during a protest staged to show support to Iran against the U.S.-Israel war on March 27, 2026 in Sana'a, Yemen.
    Collection
    The Iran War’s Global Reach

    As the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran continues, Carnegie scholars contribute cutting-edge analysis on the events of the war and their wide-reaching implications. From the impact on Iran and its immediate neighbors to the responses from Gulf states to fuel and fertilizer shortages caused by the effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, the war is reshaping Middle East alliances and creating shockwaves around the world. Carnegie experts analyze it all.

  •  A machine gun of a Houthi soldier mounted on a police vehicle next to a billboard depicting the U.S. president Donald Trump and Mohammed Bin Salman, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, during a protest staged to show support to Iran against the U.S.-Israel war on March 27, 2026 in Sana'a, Yemen.
    Article
    Amid Iran War, Gulf Countries Slow the Pace of Reforms

    The return of war as the organizing factor in Middle Eastern politics has predictable consequences: governments are prioritizing regime stability and becoming averse to political and social reform.

      • Sarah Yerkes

      Sarah Yerkes, Amr Hamzawy

  • A demonstrator holds a tablet displaying a message as they occupy a road in protest against plans by the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) to expand the parliamentary powers during the vote for the Parliament reform bill, outside the Parliament in Taipei on May 24, 2024. T
    Article
    Digital Hegemony and the Reification of Taiwan’s “Unification-Independence” Dichotomy

    Governments now deploy online platforms to shape public opinion and influence collective cognition. This is acutely apparent between China and Taiwan.

      • An Asian man with glasses wearing a sky blue collared shirt and black sweater stands in front of a statue of an antelope with a city skyline in the background

      Frank Cheng-Shan Liu

Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie global logo, stacked
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NWWashington, DC, 20036-2103Phone: 202 483 7600Fax: 202 483 1840
  • Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
  • Donate
  • Programs
  • Events
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Annual Reports
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • For Media
  • Government Resources
Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.