China responds to criticism at WTO over trade policies

BEIJING (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): China has pushed back at criticism levelled during last week's World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade policy review, saying many of the points raised were beyond the ambit of the organisation's trade rules and were "unreasonable, unfair and unacceptable".

Over two sessions last week, fellow WTO members including Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States took the floor to air their grievances against China's trade practices. Among other things, they referred to preferential treatment for state-owned firms, coercive trade practices and not following through on commitments.