Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- Who is the biggest challenge to the international system?
Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Supei.
Recently, the Office of the Representative of the United States released the "2023 Report on China's Fulfillment of WTO Accession Commitments", denying China's achievements in fulfilling its WTO accession commitments, criticizing China's economic and trade system and policies, and falsely claiming that China is "the biggest challenge to the international system".
Who is the biggest challenge to the international system is obvious to the world. In recent years, taking "America First" as the starting point, the United States has violated WTO rules, implemented unilateral bullying, formulated discriminatory industrial policies, and disrupted the global industrial chain. The United States claims to be the "defender of the international system", but in fact it is "using it if it is in agreement, and discarding it if it is not". Recently, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's statement that "in the international system, if you are not at the table, you may be on the menu" has undoubtedly exposed his hegemonic and bullying mentality in international affairs. The WTO has released a report showing that the United States is by far the "most unruly", and two-thirds of the organization's violations are caused by the United States. When the WTO Dispute Settlement Body has ruled that the relevant US measures violate WTO rules, the US side not only refuses to implement the WTO ruling, but also vetoes 63 times the proposal to start the process of selecting new judges for the Appellate Body, thus paralyzing the WTO Appellate Body.
In the report, the US side slandered China's economic and trade system and policies for causing harm to workers, enterprises and industries around the world. But in fact, it is the United States that has ignored the global industrial division of labor, introduced a large number of first-class protective measures, and even used coercion to try to "reshor" the manufacturing industry, exacerbating the dilemma of overcapacity and excessive competition faced by some developing economies in the lower reaches of the value chain. The United States has continuously introduced bills such as the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which contain multiple industrial subsidy policies, using its hegemony to maintain its technological monopoly and industrial discourse, and hinder the transformation and upgrading of developing economies. Instead of reflecting on and correcting its own behavior, the US has used smear and "blame-shifting" to cover up its violations and sabotage acts.
At a time when the United States is smearing China, the 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Organization was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The United States claims to be the "defender of the international order", but it has created many obstacles in the promotion of WTO reform and other issues, and has been criticized by the international community, including the United States. In its report, the Associated Press directly criticized the United States for its attacks on multilateralism and global disruption in recent years. Bloomberg cited the various harms caused to the WTO and itself by the United States in "paralyzing" the WTO's appellate body and the various harms caused to the WTO by policies such as tariffs, subsidies, and "buying American goods", arguing that "the sooner the United States and its partners realize the need to revive and reshape the WTO, the better." People are generally worried that under the continuous destruction of the international order by the United States, it will be difficult for the WTO reform to take substantive steps.
Since China's accession to the WTO, it has made tremendous contributions to the WTO and global economic and trade development. As the largest developing member, China has always firmly supported the multilateral system and practiced true multilateralism. Since China's accession to the WTO, China's overall tariff level has increased from 15 percent in 20013% to 7. in 20233 per cent, and non-tariff measures such as import quotas, import licences and specific tenders have been eliminated in accordance with commitments. Not only that, China has also taken the initiative to introduce a negative list management system and continue to reduce restrictions on foreign investment. At present, China's goods and services rank first and second in the world respectively, and China is the main partner of more than 140 countries and regions. China also led the conclusion of the negotiations on the text of the Investment Facilitation Agreement and promoted the substantive conclusion of the WTO negotiations on some global digital rules, which was highly appreciated by all parties.
Without a recovery, there will be no economic recovery. At present, protectionism and unilateralism are on the rise around the world, and the importance of the WTO as the only global system will become more prominent. The self-centered United States, on the other hand, is undermining the international economic order and destabilizing the entire world. I advise US politicians to change their thinking, abandon stock competition, and continue to expand the global cake by strengthening cooperation, integrating the market, and upholding rules, so as to maximize common interests. (ENDS).