Zhang Yuqing is a veteran negotiator in China's talks with its trade partners over bilateral disputes and for the nation's accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

He also led China's efforts in reviewing its laws related to foreign trade after the country joined the WTO in late 2001. The review was aimed to make China's legal system consistent with its WTO commitments.

Now the review job is basically finished and Zhang, the former director of the treaty and law department of the Ministry of Commerce, is about to take an equally impressive job as an expert for the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB).

Last week, the ministry announced that Zhang and another two Chinese law professors, Zeng Lingliang from Wuhan University and Zhu Lanye from East China University of Politics and Law, have been selected as DSB experts.

"As experts from China, we can contribute by bringing our experiences in China, a successful and fast growing transition economy," Zhang said in an interview with China Daily.

"China will also benefit from the three Chinese experts' participation with the DSB by passing what we have learned on to our homeland."

The WTO DSB members now number more than 200 and are all from WTO member nations. They are candidates for panels handling disputes among WTO members.

Panels of the DSB operate somewhat like a court. The panel usually consists of three experts, who go to WTO headquarters in Geneva to hear arguments from the parties in disputes.

Their decisions about the cases, which are called recommendations, are basically verdicts.

"The panels' judgments are pivotal in settling the disputes," Zhang said.

What the experts cite in their judging are WTO rules, which were endorsed by the trade ministers of the group's member nations after their negotiations.

Zhang said he is still busy working to become more familiar with the rules, but he has actually been dealing with trade disputes and WTO rules (as well as the regulations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) for 20 years.

Zhang, a law graduate at the University of International Business and Economics and at Georgetown University, joined the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation, the predecessor of Ministry of Commerce, in 1982. That year, China encountered its first anti-dumping investigation over its exports of menthol, and Zhang was a member of the team handling the case.

"It was an absolutely new issue for us at that time," Zhang said."We actually learned a lot from those cases."

As the country became more experienced on the issue, it also felt the increasing need to have its own regulation on these matters.

In 1991, the Provision on Anti-Dumping was promulgated.

In 1997, the government promulgated Rules on Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties. In the same year, China initiated its first ever anti-dumping investigation, against newsprint imports from a number of countries.

Zhang witnessed the whole process of China's growth in dealing with these disputes. Working as the negotiating team was an equally precious experience for Zhang, which he tapped when leading the review of laws related to foreign trade over the past two years.

The review of those laws culminated in the revision of the Foreign Trade Law, which is expected to be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in April for deliberation.

"The law is very important in establishing a unified trade system," he said.