La Cina e il WTO 20 anni dopo: la Cina rispetta i regolamenti del WTO?

The WTO, acronym for World Trade Organization, was established in 1995 after the repeal of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), with the main objective of promoting free trade by reducing duties and favouring the development of fair competition. In 2001, China also decided to join this trade Institution and became the 143rd member of the WTO, bringing an epochal change in world trade patterns and provoking a real trade shock never experienced before. The purpose of this research thesis is to analyze the evolution of the relationship between China and the WTO, from its entry into the Institution to the present day, deepening the main issues that characterized its participation in the Organization. Starting from the birth of the Institution and China's early difficulties in joining the WTO, we will develop an analysis of the importance of China's accession and will moreover be highlighted the reasons why WTO members strongly wanted to include this Country in the Organization. Subsequently, in the second chapter of the thesis, a reflection will be developed on the Chinese economy and its history in the last years, mentioning which were China’s limits in implementing WTO regulations after 2001. Furthermore, will be conducted qualitative research about the different cases presented by the WTO tribunal and the main allegations against China formalized by the member states, using data from the database of the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization, regarding the number of disputes in which China has been recalled as a sued party, and in which specific sectors. To get an even more complete picture, this thesis will also refer to a survey conducted in Italy, as an example of a WTO member country, to investigate the public's opinion about China's compliance with the Organization’s regulations. Finally, in the last part, with the contribution of the data collected in the previous section, will be examined the causes that contributed to the recent institutional crisis that has hit the World Trade Organization to better understand which role China can have in this Institution, using his trade competence to defend multilateralism that seems threatened by increasing protectionism all over the world. This thesis will therefore address in its pages some of the most important issues concerning world trade, starting from the commonalities and needs that drove countries to cooperate in the creation of the WTO, up to the analysis of one of the main causes of its alleged failure. Through this research, it will finally be possible to examine those sectors of Chinese trade that have been criticized over the years and which role China will play in the next years.