China's economic integration into global regulatory frameworks: A study of government procurement

This paper examines the extent of China's integration in the global economy and its ability to implement the WTO commitments by using government procurement as a case study. This paper argues that the domestic framework of government procurement has been gradually harmonized with the WTO commitments. Full implementation of the commitments has been constrained by several factors: policy elites consider government procurement to be a drive of cost saving and against corruption instead of a policy of spurring trade liberalization. There are still significant discrepancies between the domestic and international regulatory frameworks. Besides that, the implementation contradicts the policy priorities of local state actors on whom the policy of elites heavily depend for success. The Chinese government's capacity in enforcing international agreements has further been undermined by the structural problems of the administration. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Regents of the University of California.