| Trade in Services Agreement (hereinafter referred to as "TISA") is proposed by U.S and Australia, and originated from the WTO framework. The agreement aims at formulating new international trade rules and promoting liberalization in services. Meanwhile, the agreement named GATS is considered defective in many aspects. With the economic growth, the agreement is now exposing some problems, such as inadequate coverage, blur extent in application of law, uncertainty in the exception of MFN, etc. TISA can possibly open new space for trade in service. The framework and content of the negotiation are basically decided, though some other aspects still have divergence. Speculation and doubt to TISA is ubiquitous among the western academia, who think TISA may offend the public services system, re-damage the financial system around the world, putting the migrant workers in a position without guaranteeing legal protections for their human and labor rights, and violation of WTO principles. Towards those possible damages, Chinese government should state our position and catch the voice in the negotiating period so as to protect the national interests. Also, in order to prevent from being marginalized in the global trend, China has formally declared to participate in TISA. Our government has established Shanghai (pilot) Free Trade Zone, and actively engaged in the Cross-strait Services Agreement so as to accumulate experience in the services liberalization. But some of the agreement initiator appears to be opponents of China’s participating, especially U.S, who not only doubts China’s determination and ambition in services liberalization, but also fears our nation’s overly rapid development in trade. Our nation should examine our defects in the global services, improve domestic regulation and implement seriously so that the level of domestic service trade development could be internationally compatible very soon. |
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