Positive Incremental Road: Financial Services Trade Liberalization In Mode Selection

Since 1990s, the globalization and liberalization of the world economy has been rapidly evolving into an irresistible historic trend, with which the international trade in financial services as one of the most important part of it is developing unprecedentedly and becoming a focus on the earth.As for developing countries and areas, the situation of the financial sector is usually the bottleneck of their economic development. As a result, the open-up of the financial services area is considered the critical factor in joining the trend of globalization and liberalization. Facing the same challenge, China, the largest developing country in the world, has more urgent and arduous burdens on her own shoulder, because of her liberalization commitment under WTO rules since China's entry into the WTO. What exactly the outcome the liberalization of the trade in financial services brings to China, blessing or disaster, depends actually on our choice of the liberalization mode in this field to maximize the gains and minimize the risks. This problem is currently under preliminary discussion in theory, and there are still no persuasive and pervasive views. Out of the great interest in this subject, I tried to probe into this area in my thesis and to raise some personal opinions in order to ask for advice.With the help of numerous tables and data, this thesis employs both theoretical and practical methods to comprehensively analyze and sum up from horizontal and vertical angles respectively to get to the conclusions originated from some personal ideas. The whole thesis is composed of three main parts, before which there is a preface, and a short ending after the text. The first chapter defines the concepts of trade in financial services and its liberalization, and analyzes theoretically the gains and risks of this sort of liberalization, which indicates that the key to take the advantages and solve the problems of this "two-blade sword" is choosing the appropriate mode of liberalization. Then the second chapter analyzes what factors determine the choice, and summarizes several representative cases of developed and developing countries. The core conclusion made on the basis of practical analysis in this chapter is just consistent with that of the former theoretical analysis, i.e., the ultimate aim of the choice of the mode is to cultivate the competitive advantage in thefinancial services sector, escalating its international competitive capacity. Later in the third part, the above conclusions are put into use under China's specific circumstances, advancing that China should adopt an "active and gradual mode" to drive and speed up her liberalization process of trade in financial services, and at last proposes some concrete measures.I received warm-hearted help and encouragement from my teachers and classmates during the creation process of the thesis, especially Professor Lin Kang, my tutor, gave me much instructions carefully though busy with his work, which not only made the creation smooth, but also taught me a lot. Prof. Lin's extensive knowledge and great personality will surely benefit me all my life inspiring me forward ceaselessly. Thanks sincerely herein to my tutor and all others who care for my paper and my growing up. Confined by my knowledge and research level, and materials I could obtain in the limited period of time, I just touched the outer lay of this field, therefore the analysis may sounds superficial and the personal conclusions are open to questions. I'll be very appreciated if diversified ideas and advice could be expected.