BUYING POWER:Chinese shoppers in Carrefour (XINHUA)

It is a well-known saying that whenever the United States sneezes, the world is sure to catch a cold. However, this analogy now seems more appropriate for the economic might of China.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The nation has gone from being relatively isolated from international trade standards and regulations, to meeting requirements for full participation in world trade.

In the process, China's participation has become the driving force of the global economy. China's GDP accounted for 9.5 percent of the world's total in 2010, nearly doubling from the 5 percent in 2005.

A+ performance

Pascal Lamy, the current Director General of the WTO, has said that in the past decade, China has delivered an overall "A+ performance," although it has not yet achieved complete perfection.

China's exports and imports have grown by 4.9 times and 4.7 times respectively, with an approximate two-fold increase in its GDP. Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) show that the overall tariff rate has dropped from 15.3 percent to 9.8 percent at the end of 2010, far lower than the average of developing countries. It also revised laws and regulations in accordance with WTO rules, and took concrete steps to promote market reforms.

Liu Hongjun, Director of the Center for Globalization of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said initially, China aimed at better integrating into the global trading system through its WTO accession, attracting foreign investment and expanding exports to promote the economic growth. "The 10-year membership has proved to be the right choice [for China]," he said.

The lessons learnt from the Chinese market in a year may not be obtained from other mature markets in a decade, said Xu Youjie, General Manager of the Department of External Relations of Procter & Gamble Greater China.

P&G, a global leading consumer goods company, embarked on its first operations in China in the late 1980s. At present, the Chinese market ranks second only to the United States in terms of P&G's revenue. Such business opportunities have lured a number of international firms to China, such as Microsoft, HP, and Standard Charted Bank. Statistics from MOFCOM indicate that over the past decade, foreign direct investment (FDI) totaled $759.5 billion, the highest among developing countries.

A WTO family with China on board is a success story for both China and the world, said Premier Wen Jiabao at this year's Canton Fair in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.