Guide.
The current rules-based global ** system is facing challenges, and the suspension of the Appellate Body has brought a systemic crisis to the WTO. With regard to the imminent WTO reform, China and some other countries advocate strengthening their multilateral color and correctly reflecting the changes in the global economic power structure. However, the West, led by the United States, still clings to unilateralist thinking and hopes to use the WTO to continue to defend its own interests, which violates the principles of the WTO and the global development trend and harms the interests of developing countries around the world.
This article is an exclusive request from China Observation Think Tank, **please indicate**: China**China Watch Think Tank.
Author: Deroh Guppy.
daryl guppy)
Expert in international financial technology analysis.
Representative of the Silk Road International Chamber of Commerce in Australia.
The world's first organization has been under pressure for reform. The 13th WTO Ministerial Conference, to be held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, at the end of February, is expected to provide an opportunity for WTO reform to counter the trend of global protectionism.
Although there are different proposals for reform, on the whole, they reflect two different attitudes to the role of the WTO in creating an international environment.
The first is to support the WTO, but to recognize the changes in global relations in order to increase the importance of the countries of the Global South and promote the union of these economies. Guided by this philosophy, a number of countries have proposed to support multilateral solutions and to advocate greater representation in the decision-making process so that the WTO can more accurately reflect changes in the balance of economic activity. Among them, China recognizes the importance of the countries of the Global South and is a strong advocate of this multilateral approach to consultation.
Founded in 1995, the WTO's decision-making body has been dominated by the United States, with a veto power over appointments to key positions and processes. It is clear that the United States wants to use its economic power to create a unipolar world dominated by itself. Nonetheless, the WTO has made some important changes – which, of course, have had little impact on the United States.
Many Americans had believed that China's accession to the WTO would help China embark on the path of American-style capitalism and American-style democracy. However, as China's economy has become stronger and stronger, China has not become like the United States, which makes the United States more and more "regret" that it should not have supported China's "accession to the WTO" in the first place. As this discontent has risen, so have the voices blaming the WTO.
Since the unilateral dominance of the United States has been challenged in recent years, some countries represented by the United States have deep suspicions about the WTO, and this is the second attitude toward the WTO. Since the former Trump era, the United States has been trying to weaken the power of the WTO and interfere with its functioning.
The specific practices of the United States include a series of unilateral sanctions, illegal protectionist policies, tariffs and subsidies, and often under the pretext of ***. Even now, Biden** is still considering further tariffs on electric vehicles, solar equipment and non-advanced semiconductors, and is expected to make a decision in the first half of this year. Whoever wins in 2024 in the United States** shows no signs of such a policy change.
This U.S.-led "reform" philosophy is designed to ensure that the WTO remains an extension of U.S. foreign policy. The United States is already using its veto power to disrupt the functioning of the WTO, most notably by delaying the appointment of new judges to the Appellate Body for up to four years. This deprives all WTO members of the legal right to use the dispute settlement mechanism (the WTO dispute settlement mechanism consists of two stages: the panel stage and the appeal review stage, which is effectively binding and is a fundamental pillar of the WTO system).
China and Australia support the establishment of an alternative** dispute settlement mechanism, which, while effective, is only a stopgap measure. In any case, however, it provides a model for the development of multilateral solutions. Although China and Australia have different views on the WTO, both sides recognize that the operation of the WTO should no longer be dominated by the United States.
In order to improve operational efficiency and increase its impact, the WTO should consolidate multilateralism and firmly say "no" to any attempt to dictate its operations. Reform means that the WTO must acknowledge that the global economic balance of power has changed, including the growing economic power of China and the Global South as a whole.
China has taken the lead in the initiative to expand the multilateral basis of the WTO. China noted the need for concrete action to address the key challenges that threaten the WTO, to enhance the role of the WTO in global economic governance, and to improve the operational efficiency of the WTO.
These reform initiatives have been recognized and supported by business organizations around the world. ICC calls on the Ministers to reaffirm the common objectives of the WTO, to develop an agreed and comprehensive vision for WTO reform based on the founding principles of the WTO, and to develop a work plan for WTO reform that covers negotiation, dispute settlement, and monitoring and review functions.
The United States called for a revision of the WTO rules on "developing country status", arguing that it was not reasonable for two thirds of WTO members to define themselves as "developing countries" or "least developed countries" in order to receive special treatment and assume fewer obligations.
The 13 member economies called for the revitalization of the WTO's negotiating function and noted the need to preserve and strengthen the role of the dispute settlement mechanism as a fundamental pillar of the WTO. Others called for WTO rules to be updated to reflect the realities of the twenty-first century, which required flexible and open negotiations to achieve multilateral outcomes.
Reaching consensus in the WTO is always a challenge, and the upcoming Abu Dhabi meeting will be no exception. However, with China's strong support, the united countries of the Global South will be a new force at this meeting, a new force that marks how much the world has changed since 1995, and especially after the 2008 global financial crisis.
WTO reform is necessary, and China supports the revitalization of the WTO in order to establish an open multilateral environment suited to the 21 st century.
The original article of this article was published in the international edition of China**, and the original title is"to be fit for purpose"
*: China's China Watch Think Tank.
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