Commerce Minister: China opposes protectionism, supports cooperation to fight crisis

Source: Xinhua | 04-04-2009 08:32

LONDON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- As the curtain dropped on the G20 London summit, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming on Friday reiterated China's opposition to protectionism and voiced support for cooperation.

"This summit has yielded a series of positive and pragmatic results for the international society to jointly tackle the current financial crisis," Chen said.

He said it included reaching broad consensus on stabilizing international financial markets, speeding up reform of the international financial system, actively pushing forward the Doha round talks, and opposing trade protectionism.

Chen said history and experiences have proved that protectionism will only drag the world economy into deeper recession. As the crisis is worsening, people have increasingly realized the necessity and urgency to reject protectionism, he said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao pointed out at the G20 summit that facing the impact of the international financial crisis, China will continue to stick to its opening-up and reform policy, and unswervingly adopt the mutually-beneficial and win-win strategy.

China will not turn to protectionism just because it is encountering some temporary difficulties during the process of economic development, he said.