Wages were cut to as low as 13 cents an hour, benefits eliminated and work shifts stretched to 14 or more hours a day, seven days a week. Opening its agricultural market to imports could be even more catastrophic. The Chinese government concedes that this will result in the loss of income and livelihood for millions of rural farmers. The South China Morning Post, based in Hong Kong, estimates that if China joins the WTO, the wages of rural workers will actually drop over the next five years. This sector is already being undermined by marketization, and it could be devastated by the market opening required by the Clinton deal.
China has no substitute system of social welfare to pick up the victims.
Some human-rights advocates maintain that Chinese entry into the WTO will help bring human rights and the rule of law to China. Unfortunately, that view is highly optimistic. And China's ruling group has given every indication it will meet the unrest that will predictably emerge with more repression, not with more democracy. Maybe that is good for global corporations, but it's hard to see how it benefits the people of China. With A Friend Common Dreams NewsCenter is a non-profit news service providing breaking news and views for the Progressive Community.