MOFCOM: China has an ‘A+’ on fulfilling WTO promises

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China has done its best to implement all commitments stipulated in the WTO accession agreement, applying measures which have been highly valued by Pascal Lamy, former director general of the WTO, said Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen on Thursday.

Wang made the remarks during a press conference about a white paper titled "China and the World Trade Organization". The document was released by the State Council Information Office Thursday afternoon.

Wang quoted two authoritative comments while responding to a question about China’s implementation of WTO pledges.

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute of International Economics in the United States, said this month that China has basically fulfilled all WTO rules and rulings.

Wang also pointed to comments from Pascal Lamy, who previously served as director general of the WTO and trade commissioner of the EU Trade Commission. Lamy has said on many occasions that China has achieved an "A+" score in fulfilling its WTO commitments.

In the area of trade in goods, China lowered its most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff from 15.3 percent to 9.8 percent by 2010, fulfilling its WTO pledges.

In 2015, China’s trade-weighted average tariff was only 4.4 percent, a rate very close to the US' 2.4 percent, the EU's 3 percent and Australia's 4 percent.

On top of that, China is still cutting tariffs. It voluntarily lowered tariffs on more than 700 taxable items in 2016, more than 700 taxable items in 2017, and over 900 items in 2018.

WTO members generally use a classification system comprised of 12 core service sectors, which are further divided into some 160 sub-sectors.

China made commitments in nine service sectors and 100 sub-sectors when entering the WTO, close to the level of commitments made by developed countries.

As of 2007, China had fulfilled its commitments in the service sector.

"Some people say that China has done a bad job in some areas. If they think that China is not doing well, they can go to the WTO to sue China," said Wang during the press conference.

"Till this day, 41 cases have been filed against China. For these cases, China’s position is that if China loses, China will change and firmly implement the WTO ruling.

"At the same time, China also has the right to file cases in which we believe that other members have not fulfilled their commitments. We now have 17 cases as complainant."