China Convenes WTO Reform Seminar to Push for Plurilateral

[ABS News Service/13.10.2026]

Geneva – China is convening a seminar on WTO reform for capital-based and Geneva-based trade officials starting yesterday focusing on “development issues relating to WTO reform, through thematic discussions, policy dialogues and field visits.”

This development comes a week after China declared its full support for advancing WTO reform to accomplish “the goal of promoting universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.”

Last week, at the WTO’s General Council meeting, China explicitly stated that it “supports updating WTO rules while upholding the WTO fundamental principles.”

Barring some nuanced differences, China’s proposal on WTO reform advocates for changes in decision-making. Beijing, for example, suggested further discussions focusing on “the following areas:

A. Increasing flexibility to facilitate consensus in negotiations; B. Enhancing the role of plurilatera agreements as a building block for multilateralism, and C. Strengthening political guidance to foster consensus.

Regarding attempts to attenuate the Special and Differential Treatment architecture. China said that “discussions need to go beyond SDT,” arguing that “an issue-based approach covering bothlongstanding issues and emerging ones will help anchor our discussions in concrete development needs.”

While the United States has promoted the curtailing of S&DT by abolishing the treaty-based self-designation framework for developing countries, China said its issue-based approach “could be useful to draw lessons from past experiences of needs assessments, and better incorporate this approach into WTO's technical assistance framework.”

China also has expressed its willingness to enter into discussions on “level playing field” issues, stating it “has listened carefully to the diverse concerns raised by Members, including long-standing asymmetries in WTO rules.”

China said it “welcomes discussing concrete concerns of membership,” while advocating “safeguarding the fundamental principles and strengthening global trade governance of fair competition.”

Beijing stated that it is ready to “explore updating the SCM [Subsidies and Countervailing Measures] Agreement, enhancing transparency, and strengthening coordination on industrial policies.”

Multilateral Cooperation

When asked for comment on the seminar, a Chinese spokesperson said Beijing is going to demonstrate its “multilateral cooperation within the framework of South-South cooperation, contributing to the WTO's Aid for Trade initiative, and with a view to strengthening the capacity of developing Members in trade policy and regulations as one of the priorities”, as highlighted in the Roadmap to the 20th anniversary: Reinforcing Trade Potentials (JOB/COMTD/AFT/7).

China noted that in 2021, Beijing “put forward the Global Development Initiative (GDI), advocating the principles of development as a priority, a people-centered approach, benefits for all, innovation-driven development, harmony between humanity and nature, and results-oriented actions.”

China argued that “to implement the GDI, China has stepped up its development related efforts at the WTO, including under the Aid for Trade initiative, providing capacity-building support under the framework of South-South cooperation.”

As part of these efforts, China has launched several programs, including the China Programme, South-South Dialogues, contributions to the Global Trust Fund (GTF), and experience-sharing activities on Aid for Trade.