Turning facts on China-US trade upside down makes no sense: Chinese Embassy in Canada

OTTAWA — The Chinese Embassy in Canada on Friday said any story that turns the facts upside down on the China-US trade dispute is absurd.

In response to the unreasonable criticism in an article titled "WTO (World Trade Organization) rules are the first casualty in the China-US shoving match" published on Thursday in the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, Yang Yundong, spokesperson of the Chinese embassy here, said the unjust blame of China's defense of its own rights and interests is ridiculous and nonsensical.

Yang wondered why the article failed to criticize the United States for provoking the trade conflict and said the words -- "skipping the World Trade Organization's dispute-resolution process entirely" -- distorted China's practices.

In fact, it is the United States that has flagrantly violated the WTO rules, which launched the Section 301 Investigation against China based on its domestic laws, and decided to levy extra tariffs on Chinese products and restrict Chinese investments, he said.

These moves also violated the "Statement of Administrative Action" submitted by former US President Bill Clinton to the US Congress when it ratified the WTO agreement in 1994.

In the statement, the United States promised to never unilaterally initiate the Section 301 investigation to determine whether practices of other countries violate the WTO rules.

The spokesperson said China strictly abides by the WTO rules, and resorted to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism first before taking countermeasures against the United States.

The embassy spokesperson said the article carried by The Globe and Mail did not criticize the violator of the rules but blamed the self-disciplined victim, adding: "This reversal of right and wrong is unfair and unsavory."