China became the World Trade Organization’s 143rd member in December 2001.
China joined on 11 December 2001, after a lengthy accession process that began under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and continued after the WTO was created. Its accession required China to make extensive commitments on tariffs, market access, services and trade-related rules.
The agreement followed approval at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. China’s entry was one of the most consequential accessions in the organization’s history because of the size of its population, manufacturing sector and trading relationships.
China’s accession is sometimes confused with Taiwan’s WTO entry. Taiwan joined shortly afterward, on 1 January 2002, under the name “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.” WTO membership does not require every member to be a sovereign state in the same constitutional sense.