China plays an irreplaceable role in maintaining the effective functioning of the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism, said an expert.

"China, the world's largest trader of goods, has been a strong supporter of WTO rules," said Gu Baozhi, a researcher with Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

The country has fully practiced the concept of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, according to Gu.

China has always chosen to handle trade disputes with other WTO members within the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. So far, China has brought 17 disputes to the WTO, while being complained about in 42 disputes, of which 33 have been concluded.

In those cases, China has either corrected its practices according to WTO rules or made adjustments to its measures during the consultation stage.

When China has disputes with other WTO members over their economic and trade practices, it seeks to solve such disputes through the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, instead of pressuring others with unilateral measures, Gu said.

"In cases won by China, we ask the other party to implement WTO verdict. In cases we lose, we also accept the verdict," he added.

China has always been supportive of the recruitment of WTO appeals body members. The appeals body was left with only four of its usual seven members after three of them retired.

However, since February 2017, the United States has been blocking appointments to the WTO appeals body.

The lack of all seven members poses a risk to the regular running of the body.

China called on specific WTO member to stop implementing unilateralism, abide by WTO rules and reach an agreement with other members on this issue as early as possible.

China has also provided an increasing share of the consolidated budget of the WTO Secretariat and the Appellate Body Secretariat, said Gu.

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