UK International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said today that the Chinese Communist Party has caused a breach of trust in the global trading system and advocated working with the European Union, Japan, the United States and other countries to curb what the UK sees as unfair subsidies to state-owned enterprises by the Chinese Communist Party.
Liz Truss made the remarks at the worldEconomic Forum’s online conference entitled Fixing International Trade. She is responsible for forging new economic and trade links between the UK and the rest of the world after Brexit.
She said, “China’s practices in a number of areas, such as forced technology transfers, subsidies to state-owned enterprises, and infringement of intellectual property, have created a sense of mistrust in parts of the global trading system, and we have all witnessed many unfairnesses that could undermine trade trust if state-owned enterprises were subsidized and could undermine the free enterprise economy.
Britain’s relationship with China has cooled in recent years, from welcoming Chinese investment in local infrastructure in 2015 to banning Chinese telecoms giant huawei from participating in the UK’s communications network last year and tightening regulations on foreign investment based on national security concerns.
Truss also reiterated his call for the World Trade Organization (World TradeOrganisation, WTO), saying the WTO’s paralyzed dispute settlement mechanism must be reformed to restore trust in the WTO process.
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