Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced that China will not seek any new special and differential treatment in the current and future World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. But Professor Cui Fan clarified that China is not relinquishing its status as a developing country.
China is also ready to work with all parties to further implement the Global Development Initiative (GDI), Premier Li said at a high-level meeting on the GDI held by China on the sidelines of the general debate of the 80th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala hailed the decision as “major news key to WTO reform”, saying that “this is a culmination of many years of hard work and I want to applaud China's leadership on this issue.” The move stands as an important step in firmly upholding the multilateral trading system and actively advancing the GDI and the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), Li Chenggang, China's International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of Commerce (MOFCOM), told a press briefing.
Han Yong, Director General of the Department of WTO Affairs at MOFCOM, stressed at the briefing that China will continue to approach current and future WTO negotiations with three unchanged principles, which are specifically its status as a developing member, its determination to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing members, and its commitment to advancing the liberalization and facilitation of global trade and investment. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun noted on the same day that the decision is not only a proactive step taken by China in supporting the multilateral trading system, but also an important move in China's effort to implement the GDI and the GGI. China will stay committed to high-quality development and high-standard opening up and continue to uphold the multilateral trading system and participate in the WTO reform, Guo said.
The WTO Agreements contain provisions which give developing countries “special and differential treatment”. These special provisions include longer time periods for implementing agreements and measures to increase trading opportunities for developing countries. China joined the WTO in 2001 as a developing member. It is entitled to special and differential treatment as an institutional right under the WTO framework, Li Chenggang stressed. Since joining the WTO, while benefiting from the treatment, China has actively participated in multilateral trade negotiations, pragmatically addressing relevant issues in specific talks based on its development level and capabilities, the MOFCOM official noted, adding that this approach has significantly contributed to promoting freer global trade.
Cui Fan, Professor at the School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, clarified that while China will not seek new special and differential treatment in future WTO negotiations, it is not relinquishing all its existing rights or its status as a developing nation. “It will not alter China's developing-country status, which is affirmed by both the WTO's self-designation mechanism and its accession protocol. Also the country's per capita GDP remains significantly lower than that of developed nations,” Cui said. It also does not affect the country's entitlements as a developing member in other international frameworks such as the World Bank and the Paris Agreement, Cui told the Global Times. “While China itself will not seek new such treatment, it staunchly supports other developing countries' right to such treatment, viewing it as a vital principle for an inclusive and equitable trading system,” Cui said.
Li Chenggang emphasized that China remains the largest developing country in the world, and its status and identity as a developing country have not changed. China has always been a part of the "Global South" and will always stand with developing countries, the Global Times reports.
