The WTO, established on January 1, 1995, intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization deals with regulation of trade between members; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence (遵守) to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of members and ratified (批准) by their parliaments. The process of becoming a WTO member is unique to each applicant, and the terms of accession are dependent upon each applicant's stage of economic development and current trade regime (体制). China became a member of the WTO on December 11, 2001. The admission of China to the WTO was preceded by a lengthy process of negotiations and required significant changes to the Chinese economy. It also meant a deeper integration of China into the world economy. The admission of China to the WTO was an enormous multilateral (多边的) achievement which marked a clear commitment toward multilateralism from the Chinese perspective.