China sends Donald Trump a message about free trade and the WTO
Beijing issues white paper saying it ‘faithfully’ honoured its promises and will continue to open up markets in ‘a more comprehensive, profound and diversified way’
The Chinese government issued a white paper on Thursday saying it has “faithfully” honoured the promises it made when it joined the World Trade Organisation and wants the free trade system to continue.
It comes after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Beijing’s rhetoric on economic openness and globalisation “a joke” earlier this month, and at a time when Washington is losing faith in a system it sees as favouring China at the cost of the US.
But Beijing is not giving up its efforts to send the message that it is sincere about opening up its markets and committed to doing business with the rest of the world.
The cabinet endeavoured to drive home these points in the 27-page white paper, titled “China and the World Trade Organisation”, delivered in four sections: “China has faithfully fulfilled its WTO accession commitments”; “China firmly supports the multilateral trading system”; “China’s significant contribution to the world after accession to the WTO”; and “China is actively advancing opening up to a higher level”.
While the State Council makes no mention of US President Donald Trump in the white paper, its main statements read like a defence against many of his complaints about China.
Trump tweeted in April, for example, that: “China, which is a great economic power, is considered a developing nation within the World Trade Organisation. They therefore get tremendous perks and advantages, especially over the US. Does anybody think this is fair. We were badly represented. The WTO is unfair to US.”
Wang Shouwen, vice-minister of commerce and a key member of the Chinese team involved in trade talks with the US, said at a news briefing about the white paper that “no WTO member has suffered losses because of China’s entry into the organisation” in 2001.