Seize the Opportunity in Light of the Spirit of Innovation to Push Forward the Reform of the WTO's Appellate Mechanism
On 27 September 2023,at the group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Com-mittee on the rules of the World Trade Organization and its reform,General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that"to participate in the reform of the World Trade Organization,we must firmly uphold the authority and effective-ness of the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization as its core,and actively promote the res-toration of the normal operation of the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism".Against the backdrop of the crisis re-lating to the WTO's appellate mechanism and the weakened relevance of the multilateral trading system itself,initia-ting negotiations on the resumption of the appellate mechanism should be a priority for WTO reform and an option for China.For years,the U.S.has been attempting to leverage the motivation of other members to restore the ap-pellate mechanism to introduce rules targeting"non-market oriented policies and practices".The recent actions of the Biden administration,indicate that the aforementioned U.S.intentions have loosened.Among the new propos-als for the reform of the appellate mechanism proposed by various stakeholders,the Walker Principles and the Wolff Proposal,which are made in response to the U.S.appeals in exchange for its acquiescing to the launch of the ap-pellate mechanism reform,appears feasible.Members of the WTO,including China,should seize this opportunity to understand and sort out the U.S.appeals regarding the appellate mechanism,consider their acceptability item by item with a view to an earlier launch of the appellate mechanism reform.
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维普
