Does US, EU joint criticism against China hold water?

World
Europe

‍By CGTN's The Point

“Everyone knows who they are talking about, but they won’t mention it. I characterize this as a passive-aggressive attitude,” said Einar Tangen, an author, columnist, and commentator on CGTN’s The Point.

On the sidelines of the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina last week, the United States, the European Union and Japan made a joint statement to work within the WTO and other forums to eliminate unfair market distorting and protectionist practices by third party countries.

But they did not single out China or any other country.

“I would rather believe they are targeting issues not countries. Not only are they are subsidizing their agriculture, there are other countries who are subsidizing their other industries,” said Lu Xiankun, Associate Professor at the University of International Business and Economics of China.

The US, EU and Japan also disagree over the role of the WTO and the future of a multilateral trade regime. During his presidential campaign, US President Donald Trump said he may even cancel America’s WTO membership.

Scott Miller, a trade policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, “For 70 years, you’ve had a captain of the football team who suddenly doesn’t even show up for the practices, so players are looking around and saying, now what? What do we do?"

“What the WTO is doing is like a game. No game will stop simply because the captain is not there,” said Lu. He thought even with a US withdrawal from the WTO, things would still move forward. “In a different way,” he added.

“How to manage the whole situation without like in the past when one or two countries took the lead, and they say let’s do it, and others will follow. Now it’s different. But how to manage that. I think it’s important for the WTO to reflect upon the situation and find new ways to move forward,” Lu commented.

Tangen agreed, saying that “different bodies have to gather together, and there has to be a consensus. We cannot just push things through because we are the largest entity. We are sharing the stage with many entities.”

The Point with Liu Xin is a 30-minute current affairs program on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 9.30 p.m. BJT (1330GMT), with rebroadcasts at 5.30 a.m. (2130GMT) and 10.30 a.m. (0230GMT).

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