Over the past 15 years, China has become one of the world's most important economies, and has been a key driver of the global economy through its WTO membership. Last year, it accounted for almost one quarter -- in real GDP -- of global growth. When it joined the organization in 2001, it contributed only a half of one percent!
And the value of China's trade jumped 8 times since then, to be worth about four trillion US dollars last year. That number is expected to double over the next five years. So China remains the world's largest trading country, the world's No.1 destination for foreign investment and is the world's second largest-economy by some margin.