International rules shall not be challenged
By Zhong Sheng
Washington’s
disloyalty and limits-testing attempts were fully revealed by the frequent
farces of disregarding international rules made by some US officials.
The White House
has arbitrarily withdrawn from international agreements and organizations,
recklessly started trade disputes with global countries and undermined the
rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Lately, some US
officials went further and released a memorandum about the status of the
developing countries in the WTO. In the memo, the US required substantial
progress toward reform to be made by the WTO within 90 days, or else it will take
unilateral actions.
Such a move,
ignoring orders and treading on rules, caused widespread concern in the international
community. Is the Uncle Sam really preparing for a global trade war?
The rule-based
multilateral trading system is the cornerstone of economic globalization and
free trade, and not private property of one or a few countries. The authority
and effectiveness of the system must be respected and safeguarded.
Nearly 2/3 of
the 164 WTO members are developing countries. The core values and fundamental
principles of the organization are manifested in the Special and Differential
Treatment, whose purpose is to ensure fair treatment for developing countries
in the organization.
The majority of
the WTO members advocate that these core values and fundamental principles be
upheld regardless of how the organization is reformed. Any formulation of and
revise to the rules shall respect the general will of the WTO members, and any act
that ignores the authority of the WTO rules is considered a denial of justice.
Some American
politicians should really introspect on why both proposals about the status of
developing countries they submitted to the WTO met with opposing voices.
Clearly, they were not on the side of the general will and justice, so a
failure was destined.
No country in
the international community can neglect the connections between rights and
obligations. However, some people in the US are draining their brains to
maximize their rights in the global market. As such egoism swells up, they
completely forget about the international obligations that the US should assume
as a major country.
They even claimed
that fulfilling the obligations simply means that they are losing in the global
market.
Calling for the
revamp of rules in the name of so-called fairness and justice, they care little
about fairness and justice. For these people, maintaining superiority in the
world is their priority.
Ignoring the
rules is considered a breach of promises and will be condemned by justice and
punished by laws.
Since the US has
repeatedly blocked the appointments of the judges to the WTO’s Appellate Body
and caused a manpower shortage and deadlock in the division, 114 WTO members
jointly issued a statement in June, demanding that the US immediately stop intervening
in the appointment of the WTO’s judicial officers.
Meanwhile, the
US has attracted mounting criticism from the international community for its
withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The comment of Fred
Bergsten, co-founder of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in
the US, is very representative: the unilateralist policy of the US will only
isolate itself and no country will follow it.
Nothing can be
done without rules. In the 21st century, when global countries become
interdependent more than ever before, it is unprecedentedly urgent to improve
and reinforce the global governance.
The
international rules formulated by the members of the international community to
represent their common interests must not be undermined. Whatever practice that
puts one’s own interests above the international rules or advertises unilateralism
is doomed to fail.
(Zhong Sheng is
a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign
policy.)
International rules shall not be challenged
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