China will remain committed to the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun at a press briefing in Beijing on Monday.
Guo made the statement in response to a media query about the 30th founding anniversary of the WTO this year, as the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the organization was signed by 123 countries on April 15, 1994, leading to its birth on January 1, 1995.
"The World Trade Organization is the core of the multilateral trading system. Over the past 30 years since its establishment, it has ensured the overall steady and orderly operation of global trade by providing an open, stable and predictable institutional environment, strengthened economic and trade cooperation among its members, and promoted developing economies’ participation in and benefit from economic globalization, and made important contributions to enhancing the well-being of people in all countries and promoting sustainable development," Guo said.
"Free trade is the inevitable requirement for the development of the world economy, and its fundamental goal is to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results and promote common development. Engaging in protectionism and building 'small yard and high walls' seriously disrupt the global production and supply chains and impair the common and long-term interests of all countries. China will continue to uphold its original intention of joining the WTO, and work with the international community to uphold the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, and continue to promote the liberalization and facilitation of global trade and investment to better benefit the world," he said.
China to uphold WTO-centered multilateral trading system: spokesman
The Israeli government is set to prohibit 37 international aid organizations from operating in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank effective Jan 1, 2026, after authorities stated the groups failed to comply with stricter registration requirements, according to an Israeli media report on Tuesday.
The report from The Times of Israel cited the statement from Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, saying that the new regulations are based on security concerns aimed at removing non-government organizations' staff allegedly linked to so-called "terrorist organizations."
The report came after the Israeli government announced the same day that it would suspend the activities of several international aid organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, in the Gaza Strip starting January 1, 2026, citing the organizations' failure to submit information on their Palestinian staff as required.
Last year, Israel rolled out new regulations on registration requiring international aid groups to provide detailed information of their staff's names, funding sources, and operation status.
On Wednesday, Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories stated that the registration mandates were necessary to prevent humanitarian supplies from being exploited by Hamas.
In an online interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Wednesday, Bushra Khalidi, policy lead at Oxfam, a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice, said the impact of the ban will be "devastating."
"It is devastating. We've seen the numbers from the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) a few weeks ago. We saw them in the summer. There's been a slight improvement, but that's not good enough for the time of a ceasefire. And six months after the famine was declared, we should have seen much more improvement in Gaza," said Khalidi.
"It's winter here in Palestine. It was raining. It rained a record (amount) of rain per millimeter yesterday in Palestine since 1992. So, the impact is devastating. But the fact that shelter materials, for example, cannot enter. For families, this will mean slower repairs. It will mean fewer supplies. It will mean a longer wait for basic services. It will directly affect the access to clean water, to sanitation, to shelter materials, to public health interventions. Aid that should be moving predictably will remain delayed, it will remain restricted and it will remain stranded," she added.
She also emphasized that the operating environment became nearly impossible for organizations to navigate long before the new ban was announced.
"We have been obstructed and blocked from operating freely and unobstructedly for the last two years by Israel. Israel has killed a record number of humanitarian workers in the last two years. It has bombed our premises, it has bombed our convoys, it has blocked our items. It has driven famine like conditions in Gaza because of blocking humanitarian access. So, I think it's really important to set that scene, is that what is happening now is nothing new. It only continues within the kind of campaign that Israel has orchestrated to drive basically the population of Gazans' survival. So, we are, we have not been able to enter any materials in since March, in fact, us and many other organizations. And of course that has severely restricted our ability to scale up our operations," said Khalidi.
Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, said on Wednesday that Israel's move is no different from cutting off lifesaving supplies for the local population, adding that the European Union has made clear that all obstacles to humanitarian access must be lifted.
Israel bans operations of 37 int'l aid groups in Gaza Strip, West Bank
