Among the pre-conditions for joining GATT was a similar trade regime among all members, including currency convertibility, market access, a transparent legal system, protection of intellectual property and removal of non-trade barriers. Since the People’s Republic was committed to a socialist system of public ownership over the means of production and a monopoly over power – capitalist tools in socialist hands, as Deng Xiaoping had phrased it – such a level playing field was never on the table. But Zhu Rongji’s fiscal and currency reforms had the desired effect, creating the impression that
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