Mubasher: China backs necessary reforms to boost the authority and effectiveness of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said on Friday.

Such reforms should uphold the WTO’s core values, protect the interests of developing countries, and defend the multilateral trading system, Wang told a news conference in Beijing.

Reforms to the WTO should be undertaken with priority to issues that threaten the very existence of the organisation, he added.

The WTO’s survival is threatened as one member state continued to block new appellate body nominees, abuse national security to levy tariffs, and take unilateral moves citing local laws, Wang said.

Moreover, China would not allow reform of the WTO to depriving it of its status as a developing country.

Other member states argued that China abused its role in the WTO by using its status as a developing nation to allow it to continue state subsidies for industry.

However, Chinese officials defended this as reflecting lagging per capita income, education levels and healthcare standards.