China says it should receive ‘special treatment’ within World Trade Organisation
- Country willing to ‘shoulder responsibilities’, but won’t allow other WTO members to discriminate against it, vice-minister of commerce says
- Comments come after US economic adviser suggests China should be evicted from trade bloc for ‘misbehaving’
China should enjoy “special treatment” as a developing member nation of the World Trade Organisation, a senior Chinese official said on Friday, in an apparent rebuke of a White House adviser’s call to expel the world’s most populous nation from the group.
Ahead of a high-stakes meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming Group of 20 summit in Argentina, vice-minister for commerce Wang Shouwen called on G20 members to discuss reforming the WTO to better reflect the interests of developing nations.
There was an urgent need for reform as the trade group had come under pressure from rising protectionism and unilateralism, he said at a press conference in a thinly veiled attack on the United States’ trade war with China.
“China is the biggest developing country in the world,” Wang said. “It is willing to shoulder responsibilities within the WTO in accordance with its level of development and capability, but it will not allow any members to deprive China of the special and differentiated treatment it should enjoy as a developing country member.”
Wang, who has taken part in several rounds of trade talks between Washington and Beijing, also defended China’s support for its state-owned enterprises, which is one of the sticking points in the trade war.