Spokesman of China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) Hu Chusheng said Wednesday morning that the permanent resolution of most-favored-nation (MFN) status has long been desired by the people.
Hu made the remark in response to the passage of the China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) bill by the US Senate.
He said that the World Trade Organization requires all its members to observe the principle of non-discrimination and grant unconditional MFN treatment to each other. He added that according to the China-US Trade Agreement, China has always offered unconditional MFN treatment to the United States, but the US long-standing practice of annual review of China's MFN status in accordance with its domestic laws constituted a major impediment to the healthy and steady development of Sino-US economic relations and trade.
(People’s Daily 09/20/2000)
