Thank you, Ambassador Tan, for giving me the floor. I would start by thanking Director General Dr. Ngozi for bringing us together again, and successfully organizing this wonderful event of WTO’s 30^thanniversary.

While WTO and its members have made remarkable achievement in the past 30 years, now it is facing unprecedented challenges. The reciprocal tariffs imposed by the United States is typically unilateralism, protectionism and economic coercion. As many have pointed out, it is provoking a global trade war; seriously undermining the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core; and inflicting severely harms on the world economy, especially on the small, the vulnerable, and the least developed.

In times of heightened turbulence and uncertainty, the value of WTO becomes even more apparent. Today, on the occasion of WTO’s 30^thanniversary, many members came together to reaffirm their commitment to multilateralism.

They called for respect for WTO rules;

They called for the preservation of open trade;

They called for meaningful WTO reforms;

They called for the advancement of development goals; and,

They called for unity and cooperation.

Their statement reflects expectations of the vast majority of members. China welcomes and fully supports the statement.

It is our firm belief that trade war has no winners. The United States announced unilateral tariffs on all its trading partners, including China. We took resolute counter-measures immediately. Those measures are to protect our sovereignty, security and development interests. They are also to defend international trade rules and international fairness and justice. History has repeatedly shown, that protectionism leads nowhere, and openness and cooperation remain the right path forward. China stands ready to engage with all members, to practice true multilateralism, to safeguard the multilateral trading system, and to stabilize trade relations with members who are still operating trade under the WTO MFN principles.

Let us continue to trade on the basis of WTO rules.

Let us work together to deliver positive outcomes on WTO reform and MC14.

Let us inject more stability and certainty into the world economy.

Thank you.