China: WTO reforms should protect developing nations

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China expects the World Trade Organization (WTO) reforms to respect the interests of its developing member countries, China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen told reporters on Friday in Beijing.

After APEC failed to reach an agreement due to trade divisions, China expects effective discussions during the upcoming G20 Summit and hopes G20 members, which account for 80 percent of world trade, will support multilateralism and promote WTO reforms, which also meet the expectations of businesses, Wang said.

Amid trade tensions, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to hold talks during the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires next week.

Wang said the WTO is threatened by three factors: the dispute settlement regime is at risk of paralysis by obstruction from certain members and as the vacancy of its appellate body members cannot be filled; certain members raising tariffs by abusing the security exception clause; and some members taking unilateral approaches disregarding the WTO's multilateral rules.

Wang said China could not allow other countries to strip it of its treatment as a developing member in the WTO, adding that the country will also shoulder its responsibility.

WTO reforms should follow three fundamental principles: upholding the organization's core values of non-discrimination and opening, protecting the development interests of developing members and addressing their difficulties integrating into economic globalization, and following the mechanism of decision-making by consensus, Wang said.

"WTO reforms should prioritize work on efficiency and fairness. Meanwhile, China supports necessary reforms of the WTO to strengthen its authority and effectiveness."

China is against some WTO members' behavior to undermine or deny the multilateral trading system with tariffs and unilateral practices, Wang said, noting WTO reforms should solve these problems and ensure operation of the organization.

China also expects the reforms to correct the twist on global agricultural products trade brought by over-subsidies from some developed countries, and the interference in global trade made by the so-called "surrogate country" approach, which is used to calculate anti-dumping measures, should also be removed, according to Wang.

Moreover, China believes that countries' development models should not be included in the WTO reform and opposes introducing groundless accusations into the reform agenda.

Discrimination of certain countries through investment scrutiny and export limits should be removed, Wang said, noting WTO members' different development models should be respected instead of being discriminated against.

(With input from Xinhua News Agency)