Commerce minister Gao Hucheng has urged all WTO members to accept China’s market economy status. Gao wrote in an article published by the People’s Daily newspaper that China has been earnestly honoring its commitments since its entry to the WTO 15 years ago.

Gao said the observance of the rules is key for orderly and prosperous development of international trade and investment. He said China lawful rights and interest must be maintained and China reserves the right to take further action.

Gao refuted several WTO members’ failure to fulfill their obligations by purposefully relating the issue with China’s industrial overcapacity. He stressed that China will join hands with other members against trade protectionism and maintain multilateral trade mechanism to rejuvenate a sluggish world economy recovery.