Nation will need 'WTO moment' for small firms

China needs a "WTO moment" for its service industry and small and medium-sized enterprises, Dominic Barton, global managing director of management consultancy McKinsey & Co suggested.

"We need a WTO for SMEs and the service industry. But unlike the WTO, I do not think it will come externally. Instead, it will come internally," said the author of a book about China.

China's accession into the World Trade Organization in 2001 is widely believed to have forced many domestic regulatory changes and led the country into becoming more integrated into the global economy, which eventually contributed to the country's double-digit growth in the 2000s.