JAPAN INDUSTRIAL-POLICY AND ACCESSION TO THE GATT - A TEACHER BY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE EXAMPLES

We examine the lessons to China's accession to the GATT/WTO from Japan 's industrial policy and accession to the GATT. The experience of Japa n is neatly reviewed, and Japan's industrial policy is briefly charact erized with special emphasis on the three roles competition plays in t he context of industrial policy formation and implementation. The firs t role is played in the actual market place, where interfirm competiti on takes place, the second role is played in the policy forum, where p ublic decision-making on industrial policy takes place, and the third role is played in the jurisdictional dispute, where inter-ministrial c ompetition takes place. The paper then asks the crucial question: What 's wrong with bilateral negotiations and dispute settlements outside t he GATT/WTO set of rules? Based on these preliminary analyses, several remarks will be made on China's accession to the GATT/WTO regime with special reference to her current industrial policy.