As China edges closer towards joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), it is set to become embroiled in a lengthening list of trade rows.

Already it is coming under scrutiny over its failure to date to deal with the problem of counterfeiting, a practice that is costing western companies billions of dollars a year.

Major trade friction is predicted once China has WTO membership when its already super-competitive industries have even greater access to world markets.

The problem will centre on the fact that poorer countries will be unable to match cheap Chinese labour and the muscle of multinational firms building up export platforms in China.

China is currently involved in a bitter trade row with Japan. Both countries have been locked in a festering row since April, when Tokyo imposed import curbs on cheap Chinese agricultural products in a bid to protect Japanese farmers.

Japan said it imposed temporary safeguard curbs under the WTO rules that preclude retaliations on shiitake mushrooms, leeks and rushes for tatami mats to protect domestic industries from cheap imports.

But in retaliation against those curbs, China last week imposed 100 per cent tariffs on 60 products including certain mobile phones, cars and air conditioners.

Millions of Chinese farmers and Japanese carmakers are suffering as a result. But the real losers could be innovative companies and consumers in Japan whose interests have been ignored.