Changing times demand bigger role in WTO

Sun Yongfu, former head of the Department of European Affairs, Ministry of Commerce

Negotiations key to better future

Since joining the WTO in 2001, China has not only participated in but also has done everything it can to adapt to the world order. Over the past 15 years, China's economy and trade volume have increased dramatically to the astonishment of both China and its global partners.

Beijing has been playing an increasingly important role in international relations; it is promoting the Belt and Road Initiative and played the leading role in establishing the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank, which are actually rule-making practices. In fact, it has been helping draft new rules for global governance.

But that does not mean Beijing is out to break the existing rules. It only hopes to add new, and much-needed elements to the current global governance mechanism, which requires it to consider some problems from a global perspective and better balance the interests of various parties.

Negotiation is one of the processes to achieve the right balance among different interests, so China must pay greater attention to this problem while making more efforts to draft global rules.