China starts televising sunrise on giant TV screens because Beijing is so clouded in smog

[pampango]

33. Do you believe that this would not have happened if China had not joined the WTO?

China joined the WTO at the end of 2001. Russia (the last major country to join) joined in 2012.

From 2001 (the last year that trade with China was not governed by the WTO) we imported about $102 billion from China. In 2011 we imported about $399 billion. Our imports increased by a factor of 4.

In 2001 we imported about $6 from Russia. In 2011 (the last year before Russia joined the WTO) we imported about $34 billion. Our imports increased by a factor of almost 6.

Our imports from China are almost 12 times what they are from Russia (our exports to China are 12.5 times what our exports to Russia are) but China has 10 times the population that Russia has. In 2011 our trade with China was 78% imports and 22% exports, while our trade with Russia was 80% imports and 20% exports.

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html

I am not sure you can make a case that not joining the WTO would have slowed down China's industrialization or trade growth or improved his environmental record. Not being in the WTO did slow down Russia's trade growth. I see not reason to believe that keeping China out of the WTO would have slowed it down any more than it did Russia.

What "non-centrist" policy would have prevented China's economic and trade growth and environmental damage? A Cuba-style trade embargo? That hardly sounds like a liberal policy proposal.