Chinese cooperation on trade reforms is most likely to come if it is not made to feel targeted by other countries, according to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general of the World Trade Organization.
Several countries have been pushing for reforms on industrial subsidies and state-owned enterprises used by China, with those countries saying the policies distort global trade.
"We also have to show China is not being targeted... When China feels it is being targeted, and it's only about China, you get a lot of resistance," Okonjo-Iweala told a European Commission conference. "The dealings I have had with China have been very constructive and I think that if we put the facts on the table about the negative spillovers from such industrial subsidies and share them with China ... they will be willing to look at that."
The WTO is working with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OCED) to "put some objective facts on the table," the WTO chief remarked.
This comes as the U.S. has continued to seek to build support with allies to take on China's actions on trade and economic policies.