[nemesisj]

This type of negative opinion on China is shared all too often on HN, and it's really irritating.

It's also untrue.

For example, lets go to the WTO itself and see the list of current disputes, which is helpfully grouped by country: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_by_countr...

- China is currently responding to 39 complaints.

- The USA is responding to 132. Which is more than the entire EU (84) and more than any other country.

It's really tiring to see the "China is a protectionist market" narrative trotted out again and again, unchallenged, and is probably second only to the "China is encroaching on the South China sea" narrative in terms of how hypocritical both views are, especially when espoused by Americans.

[dublinben]

This is textbook "whataboutism" which has been used to deflect criticism since Soviet times. It is wrong when China does it, and it is also wrong when the US does it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

[newfoundglory]

No it isn't. It's responding to the claim that China is a terrible protectionist place and the US has to make them stop, which implies that the US has the moral high ground here.

[michaelscott]

I'm not sure I understand.. are you saying that China is NOT a protectionist market? There is plenty of evidence to the contrary.

It's true that such a view doesn't disregard the often equally protectionist approaches of countries like the US, yes, but the former can't be denied just because of the latter.

[3pt14159]

Citing WTO numbers is essentially lying.

A successful WTO claim against America is tantamount to fiscal settlement. The same is far from true for China. They routinely rip off foreign companies. Google "Nortel China hack" and come back to me about something equivalent that the Americans have done. The Americans aren't angels, but they aren't demons either and China does not respect international norms or laws.