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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Mar26/31) TWN MC14 Update No. 4 China
Defends WTO Core Principles Kuala Lumper*, Goh Chien Yen -- As the United States pushed to relegate the most-favoured-nation principle to history at the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference (MC-14), China's commerce minister Wang Wantao delivered a forceful counterargument: MFN is not a relic. It is the bedrock of the rules-based trading system; and dismantling it would unleash "the law of the jungle, where might makes right." Quoting Chinese President Xi Jinping: "the rougher the seas, the more we must pull together", Wang made his case during the MC-14 session on foundational issues held yesterday, 26th March 2026. Since 1995, he noted, world trade in goods and services has expanded more than fivefold under WTO rules. The current disruptions, far from proving the system obsolete, "further testify to the value of the rules-based multilateral trading system." The intervention was a direct rebuttal to Washington's position. The US has signalled at MC14 that MFN has outlived its usefulness. A stance widely understood as clearing the ground for bilateral, power-based negotiations in which size and leverage determine outcomes. Wang warned that such an approach would have "devastating effects on medium and small developing members" left to negotiate alone against the world's largest economies. Beijing's three priorities for WTO reform were plainly designed to rally the developing world. First, strengthen, not weaken, the multilateral system. Second, place development at the centre of the reform agenda, including support for developing countries navigating digital transformation, green development, and artificial intelligence. Third, respect the diversity of economic systems and stages of development across the membership. "Members have already reached a common understanding on the necessity and urgency of WTO reform," Wang said. "The next step is to deepen discussions on what to reform and how to reform." The message was clear: reform must mean updating the system, not gutting its foundational principles. China also called on ministers to "unequivocally oppose unilateralism and protectionism," language that, while diplomatically unnamed, left no ambiguity about its target. Not everyone accepted Beijing's framing uncritically. One South American participant observed that China's own February 2026 WTO submission paper endorsed "flexible plurilateral initiatives," raising questions about whether such pathways might themselves create a two-tier system. Still, many acknowledged the core logic of Wang's intervention: in a trading order increasingly shaped by raw economic power, the MFN principle remains the primary shield for countries that lack it. *With inputs from TWN delegation at MC14, Yaoundé, Cameroon. This article is based on original news report, “US Push on MFN Sparks Pushback as China Defends WTO Core Principles”, 26 March 2026 ( D Ravi Kanth).”
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