27 March 2026

 First, China supports identifying decision-making as a priority issue for Post MC14 WTO reform. The purpose of the reform is not to change the consensus principle, but rather, given the diverse demands and priorities of the WTO membership, to explore a more flexible decision-making approach based on consensus that could enable the WTO to deliver more outcomes.

Second, in practice, WTO decision-making faces two typical challenges. One is that an issue that enjoys broad-based support from the membership is being blocked by very few members, even when it does not harm their economic interests. The other is the perceived dichotomy between past mandate and new issues, to the extent that for some members, discussions on new issues could not commence while mandated issues remain unsolved,.

Such cases reflect an all-or-nothing approach, which often ends up nothing, and increasingly diminishes WTO’s relevance. To break the gridlock, China suggests exploring a middle way between the poles of moving all together and not moving at all.

First, plurilateral initiatives that are open to all members should be explored, together with discussions on balanced and inclusive guardrails. This means allowing those who are ready to move forward while those who are not ready could wait and observe for a while. In this way, the WTO could deliver more for its membership.

Second, past mandates should be revisited with new perspectives and addressed step by step. Discussions on outstanding issue should be informed by current challenges, so as to find new angles and new dynamics. Complicated issues could be broken down to smaller parts and addressed one by one, step by step.

Third, as we address outstanding issues, it is important to embrace issues of our time in parallel, such as digital transition，green transition, and artificial intelligence, to tap into new areas of potential growth.