Safeguard core values of WTO, China says

Beijing said on Monday that the core values and basic principles of the World Trade Organization, as represented by special and differential treatment, must be safeguarded during its reform.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the remark after United States President Donald Trump put pressure on the WTO on Friday to change how it designates developing countries, singling out China as unfairly getting preferential treatment, Reuters reported.

Trump, in a memo, directed the US Trade Representative to stop treating such countries as developing countries for the purpose of WTO membership if "substantial progress" toward reform had not been made within 90 days.