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Henry Gao Profile picture
@henrysgao
Nov 30, 2021 • 10 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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China's WTO Ambassador Li Chenggang published an op-ed on the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO in the People's Daily yesterday.

Titled "Playing a colorful movement on the WTO stage", it confirmed several of my observations over the years:
paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2021…
1. The overall assessment, as noted by Amb. Li at the beginning of the essay, is that China has grown from a "rule-taker" to a "rule-maker". This is an observation I first made 11 years ago in a paper with the same title, available on @SSRN:
ssrn.com/abstract=19417….
More specifically, the essay notes that China is the "main force" of rules negotiation, "Top Students" in Policy Review, and the "night watchman" of the dispute settlement mechanism, which were all explored in my 2010 paper.
2. The essay also notes that "China has grown from a user of public goods to an important provider on the WTO stage", supported by examples such as the China Programme for LDC accession, as well as China's "leading role in WTO reform". Yes, you read it right, China is now saying
that it plays a leading role in WTO reform negotiations, as I pointed out in another recent paper:
Henry Gao, China’s Changing Perspective on the WTO: From Aspiration, Assimilation to Alienation. Available at SSRN: ssrn.com/abstract=39585…
such a claim also confirms the broader point in my paper above that China now sees itself as the affirmer of WTO rules and reform negotiations.
3. In summary, Amb Li notes, "Over the past 20 years, China has kept its promises and acted positively, and has played a constructive role in promoting the development of the WTO." In support, he refers to the "overwhelming praise of China by most WTO Members in the recent TPR",
Yet, the story as reported in @fbermingham's live reporting of the TPR seems to indicate otherwise, which is summarized in the discussion on China's "alienation" from WTO rules and the reactions that followed in my paper.
4. Li's essay is capped with an upbeat note:
China will continue to play colorful music on the WTO stage, and to promote WTO reform in line with the needs of the overall interests of 164 Members, so that the large garden of the WTO will be "red and purple in every way".
While people may debate whether China is the one playing "colorful music" or "discordant notes", let me finish off this thread, as I did in my paper, with a thought from 3 years ago in this op-ed in the @east_asia_forum: eastasiaforum.org/2018/03/09/bro…

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More from @henrysgao

Henry Gao Profile picture
Jan 31
Today PLA Daily finally published another editorial on the Zhang Youxia case, which in itself is not surprising. What is striking are the following:
1. The editorial came a full 6 days after the case was first reported, during which time Zhang’s name never appeared at all. Image
2. Despite the strong rhetoric, there is still no pledge of loyalty from commanders across the various regions.

3. The editorial openly acknowledges the need to “face short-term difficulties and periodic pains,” implicitly admitting that things didn't go as smoothly as planned. Image
4. It goes out of its way to spell out that the CMC Chairman Responsibility System means "to resolutely follow Xi’s commands, be responsible to Xi, and reassure Xi".

This appears to be a response to arguments that the system means loyalty to the position, not to the person. Image
Read 4 tweets
Henry Gao Profile picture
Jan 26
Today’s PLA Daily editorial on anti-corruption offers a textbook example of how to read CCP propaganda:
Read it backwards.

The key message is that “a few corrupt elements can’t make any waves.”

1. Is it really just “a few,” when 5 of the 6 CMC members other than Xi are gone? Image
2. Among the 5 major crimes listed in yesterday’s PLA Daily piece, corruption was only the 3rd. Even then, Zhang and Liu were not accused of corrupting themselves, but of “seriously promoting political and corrupt problems that affect the Party’s absolute leadership of the army.” Image
Notably, "political" comes before "corrupt" — and promoting corruption is not the same as engaging in corruption.

3. Can they “make waves”?
Perhaps not the generals promoted by Xi.
But Zhang, a veteran commander with deep roots and a long history in the PLA, is different.
Read 5 tweets
Henry Gao Profile picture
Jan 26
Interesting story by @Lingling_Wei & @ByChunHan, but I have several questions:

1. @WSJ reports that the evidence against Zhang came from Gu Jun, former general manager of China National Nuclear Corp. But anyone familiar with the Chinese system knows that a suspect under Image
investigation may say virtually anything (in response to leading questions) in exchange for mitigation.

Moreover, this is almost impossible given how siloed the Chinese system is, as @neilthomas123 pointed out here:
@neilthomas123 2. I’m not convinced by the claim that the investigation of Zhang is “a sign of strength, not weakness, for Xi”, esp as the same article notes that the investigation team in Shenyang chose to stay in local hotels rather than military bases! Image
Image
Read 5 tweets
Henry Gao Profile picture
Jan 25
What is Zhang’s real crime?

It has nothing to do with corruption, despite what People’s Daily (and many pundits here) have claimed. The issue is far more fundamental: who controls the PLA.

Art 29 of PRC Constitution states that PRC armed forces belong to the people. Image
In reality, however, the army belongs neither to the people nor even to the People’s Republic.

It belongs to the CCP.

This principle was established under Mao and has been reaffirmed repeatedly. Most recently, the 2019 CCPCC Decision on Several Major Issues of Adhering to and
Improving the Socialist System with Chinese Characteristics and Promoting Modernisation of the National Governance System and Governance Capacity explicitly calls for upholding the “absolute leadership of the CCP over the army” and for “resolutely resisting wrong political views Image
Read 7 tweets
Henry Gao Profile picture
Dec 30, 2025
China has just revised its Foreign Trade Law, and the signal is unmistakable: Beijing is preparing for a long, tougher trade war with the US—for the next 3 years and beyond.

At the core of the revision is a new willingness to use unilateral trade countermeasures. Under the Image
revised Article 40, China can restrict or ban trade with foreign individuals or firms that harm China’s sovereignty or development interests, disrupt “normal” market transactions with Chinese entities, or discriminate against Chinese firms.

Crucially, the law also goes after Image
circumvention. Logistics providers, platforms, and other intermediaries can be penalised for helping firms evade Chinese measures.

This is clearly aimed at the “poison pill” clauses in recent US trade agreements, which try to lock partners into coordinated actions on China.
Read 8 tweets
Henry Gao Profile picture
Nov 20, 2025
Finally had time to read this, but I could barely get past the opening pages. Still, I’ll try.

This is how Kuo begins his essay:
“This essay doesn’t rehearse the familiar bill of particulars on China—constraints on political pluralism and independent media; expansive security Image
powers and preemptive detention; pressure on religious and ethnic expression; and episodes of extraterritorial coercion—not because those concerns are trivial, but because the task here is different.”

This has become the now-standard preface in China-defender discourse:
“the task here is different”, but different in what?

According to Kuo, “the aim here is to confront, with intellectual honesty, what China’s achievements oblige us to reconsider about modernity, state capacity, forms of political legitimacy, and our own complacencies.”
Read 16 tweets

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