China ends pursuit of special and differential treatment in WTO talks

China announced on Tuesday that it will stop requesting special and differential treatment for developing countries in any current or future World Trade Organization negotiations, a move Premier Li Qiang said signals Beijing's readiness to assume higher trade obligations and to help advance reform of the global trading system. The announcement was made on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Premier Li said China, which he described as a responsible major developing country, would not seek new special and differential treatment in WTO negotiations. Commerce Ministry officials in Beijing said the step was intended to strengthen the multilateral trading system at a time when it faces tariff disputes and protectionist measures. The officials did not name the United States in their comments, though Washington has long pressured Beijing to relinquish preferential developing country benefits it says are inappropriate for the world's second-largest economy.

Chinese diplomats in Geneva and the country's mission to the WTO clarified the policy nuance in separate statements. Senior delegates and Li Yihong, chargé d'affaires at China's permanent mission to the...