Commerce Minister Bo Xilai went on the offensive at the World Trade Organisation summit yesterday, saying China was the biggest victim of unfair anti-dumping practices and the rest of the world should treat it as a developing country with a genuine market economy.
Mr Bo, head of China's delegation to this week's meeting, was responding to accusations by the United States, one of China's biggest trading partners, that China was dragging its feet on market reforms.
As a new member of the world trade body, the mainland delegation of more than 100 finance, agricultural and trade officials had so far adopted a low-profile strategy at the WTO meeting, opting for a watch-and-learn approach and leaving the diplomatic wrangling to others.
But yesterday, Mr Bo defended China's trade record both during his official address to the meeting and at a media briefing afterwards.
He hit back at a report issued by the Office of the US Trade Representative on Monday detailing what it saw as shortfalls in China's compliance with its accession commitments. 'The Chinese government is a responsible government and the country has diligently implemented its WTO accession commitments,' he said.
Large economies have persistently criticised the mainland throughout its first four years of WTO membership, putting intense pressure on China to accelerate the opening of key sectors such as financial services beyond its original accession promises.
Mr Bo said China's average tariff rate on manufactured goods had dropped from 42.9 per cent when WTO accession talks began in the early 1990s, to 9 per cent this year. Tariffs on agricultural products had fallen from 54 per cent to 15.3 per cent, compared with a global average of 62 per cent.