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Comment by dirtyid | Hacker News Reader

> they believe in free trade at all

More than US seeing how PRC has significantly less disputes (normalized for acession time), both as initiator and target per WTO stats and generally abides by WTO disputes ruled against her favour. Even PRC's accession protocol was made extra onerous via US objections who still got outplayed - it isn't/wasn't PRC paying lip service while blocking WTO dispute resolution system. PRC believes in free trade more than US because she's learned to play the game better vs US flipping over the gameboard. Which is fine, globalism no longer in US interest, but lets not pretend US isn't systematically the worst exploiter of free trade even while being the most influential rule writer, and increasinly worse when as those priveleges erode.

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You’re talking about the China who recently put trade sanctions on Korea for installing missile defenses (who has a now-nuclear neighbor) and Australia for dare mentioning that COVID originated in China?

>If Beijing keeps breaking free-trade rules to make its foreign-policy points against rival nations, it will hurt domestic markets and lose international stature

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2083166/opini...

> Beijing’s attempt to bully Canberra has been a spectacular failure.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/09/australia-china-decoupl...

Yes and?

You eating biased media diet doesn't invalid the statistical reality that PRC, relative to her signifcant trade volume and relationships is objectively one of the better adherents at WTO relative to countries that whine about PRC unfairness. From TWO DSS database:

- PRC 65 disputes, 21 as complainant, 44 as respondant

- USA 279 disputes, 124 as complainant, 155 as respondant

- SKR 39 disputes, 21 as complainant, 18 as respondant

- JP 42 disputes, 26 as complainant, 16 as respondant

- AU 25 disputes, 9 as complainant, 16 as respondent

- EU 190 disputes, 104 as complainant, 86 as respondent

Another apt comparison: India 56 disputes, 24 as complainant, 32 as defendant, while 1/5th smaller than PRC.

Normalize for trade volume and accession time (PRC has been WTO member for 21/27 years, with again, more onerous accession requirement than typical) PRC is better than all USA, SKR, AU. In fact substantially better than other major powers. And as US has demonstrated, historically, it's completely normal to jetison trade rules for national security / foreign policy.

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