China is going to encounter numerous challenges once it becomes a WTO member such as attracting talents, trying to keep a number of businesses open and controlling the unemployment rate, said Li Yining a renowned professor of economics in Beijing University and member of China's lawmaking body the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

"We should start to reconsider present laws in terms of attracting talents and supporting domestic private firms," Li said at the "Symposium on WTO and China's Legal Profession" which began in Beijing on January 8.

"Opportunities and challenges will emerge, but we must make the most of every opportunity," Li told a group of 600 lawyers.

China has signed an agreement with the United States on China's accession to the WTO. The European Union is working closely with China's bid to become a WTO member. It is widely expected that China will soon become a formal member of the organization.

After China joins the WTO, more foreign companies will come to China luring local expertise with handsome salaries, said Li.

Chinese companies will give stock rights to their much wanted technical workers because they could not afford too much pay rises, Li said.

These changes will require amendments to the existing Corporate Laws and the formulation of new laws governing firms that are not floated for public purchase, Li added.

To prepare domestic firms for China's entry into the WTO, Li also called for the government to open wider its domestic industries such as telecommunications and banking to domestic companies, before they are opened to foreign firms.

China should turn its personal bank savings into investment. According to Li this will greatly help the growth of private and state-owned Chinese enterprises.

Li also predicts that unemployment will rise after China's entry into the WTO, because more agricultural workers will be forced to move to cities in search of work while more urban workers are expected to be laid off.

The most effective channel to absorb manpower is to develop then on-public sector, Li said, noting that there are already laws to stimulate their growth for 2000, but follow-up measures in bank loans and eliminating unfair taxation laws must be made as soon as possible.

Government officials, scholars and lawyers all expressed optimism in today's meeting over the long term prospect of China's entry to the WTO.

"More than 90 percent of China's trade partners are its members. China's entry would dismantle trade tariffs and be good for everyone concerned," said Zhang Yuqing, an official with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

In the not so distant future, foreign firms will not be a threat to Chinese firms because market potentials will still be enormous, according to Yu Ning, vice-president of the All-China Association of Lawyers. (Xinhua)