Premier backs world trade order

Li says China, Japan need to cooperate in preserving multilateralism

Premier Li Keqiang called on Japan to work with China in safeguarding multilateralism and free trade, as the countries are confronted by rising trade protectionism and anti-globalization sentiment.

As major economies and beneficiaries of free trade, China and Japan should defend the rules-based international order, Li said in Beijing on Tuesday during a meeting with a delegation of Japanese legislators headed by Tadamori Oshima, speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan's parliament.