China touts 20th year of WTO membership, crowns itself a rule maker

When the World Trade Organization approved China’s accession in November 2001, China’s trade minister declared that all members should “formulate the international trade rules of the new century through equal participation and consultation.” Twenty years later, China’s ambassador to the WTO is calling Beijing the “main force” in the body’s negotiations. “In the past 20 years, China has grown from a rule-acceptor to an important participant in rule-making on the WTO stage,” Chinese ambassador Li Chenggang claimed in a Monday...