BEIJING, March 3: The United States will not hesitate to take China to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a US envoy said on Friday, warning the Asian giant can no longer expect to evade global trade rules.

“The administration will not shy away from bringing cases against China when warranted,” said James Mendenhall, general counsel for the US trade representative’s office.

“We will not bring cases merely for the sake of bringing cases but we will defend our interests,” he told a group of US businessmen in Beijing.

Mr Mendenhall was speaking on the eve of his departure from China following talks this week with officials in Beijing on WTO rules, intellectual property rights and Chinese regulations on auto parts.

“We have told China that we’re actively considering a WTO challenge to China’s regulatory regime in auto parts ... that potential case remains under active consideration,” he said.

Mr Mendenhall said China needed to become a responsible “stakeholder” in the international trade system.

“This means that we should not expect China to remain for long isolated from dispute settlement,” he said, describing the country as an “anomaly” for having been a defendant in just one WTO case since becoming a member in late 2001.

“China simply can’t play the enormous economic role it’s playing in the world, and that it has ambitions to play in the future, without becoming an active participant in the system.”

What this entails for China is being held to account to ensure that it complies with its trade obligations, he said.

“Abiding by the rules is the price of admission to be an economic power in the world today,” Mr Mendenhall said.

He said wide differences in views existed between the US and the Chinese governments on the protections of intellectual property rights (IPR) in China.

“China is clearly not the purest player of the world stage. We know there are serious problems. The IPR problems are well-known,” he said.

He said that while China had taken some action to protect IPR, the system was still not “effectively deterrent”, and he called for stiffer punishments of violators.

“It is not actually resulting ... in adequate punishment of individuals who are engaged in piracy and counterfeiting.”

He said his talks with Chinese officials this week should not be described as negotiations but rather an exchange of information.—AFP