LOS ANGELES, November 11 (Xinhua) -- China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) is expected to enhance its growing role as a world economic power and benefit the global trade club as well as U.S.-China trade, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

In a story filed from Doha, Qatar, where the WTO approved China's entry on Saturday, the paper quoted WTO Director General Michael Moore as saying: "This is a defining moment. The world has now changed, and changed for the better."

"Amid a global slowdown, China has been one of the few countries to boast positive economic growth, and its lower labor costs have allowed it to become an important exporter and competitor around the world," the paper noted.

The paper said that China, already the world's seventh-biggest trading nation with merchandise exports of 249 billion U.S. dollars last year, is expected to rise to number two within a decade, outstripping Germany, Japan, France, Britain and Canada.

The paper noted that China has agreed to a package of market-opening measures to transform its 1.1 trillion-dollar economy and agreed to slash import tariffs and quotas, and lift bans on agricultural products.
The tariff applied to U.S.-made autos, for example, will fall to 25% from 100% over five years, and tariffs on information technology products will disappear, the paper said.

Foreign companies will be able to develop their own wholesale and retail distribution networks in China. Providers of legal, financial, telecommunications and transportation services will operate more freely within its borders. China will also strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, including patents and copyrights, it added.