BEIJING, Sept. 24 -- China's announcement that it will not seek new special and differential treatment in current and future World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations demonstrates its firm commitment to safeguarding the multilateral trading system, a senior commerce official said Wednesday.

The announcement, which was made at a high-level meeting on the Global Development Initiative Tuesday in New York, is an important statement of position made by China in light of both international and domestic situations, Li Chenggang, China's international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce and vice minister of commerce, said at a press conference.

Li stressed that the announcement will provide a strong boost for the liberalization and facilitation of global trade and investment, and will inject positive momentum into the reform of the global economic governance system.

The rules-based multilateral trading system is facing severe challenges, with hegemony, unilateralism and protectionism on the rise around the world, Li said. And certain countries have launched repeated trade and tariff wars, which have seriously damaged the legitimate rights and interests of WTO members, disrupted the global economic and trade order, and brought uncertainty and instability to global growth, he noted.

He emphasized that China remains the world's largest developing country. It has always been a member of the Global South and will always stand together with other developing countries.

Looking ahead, the country will remain committed to the goals of Chinese modernization, deepen reform across the board, expand its high-standard opening-up and advance high-quality development, according to Li.

China will, as always, uphold the multilateral trading system and deeply engage in the reform of the WTO and the adjustment of international economic and trade rules, he said.

China will stand firmly with other developing WTO members to keep development at the center of WTO reform, promote more development-oriented outcomes, and push global economic governance in a fairer, more equitable direction, he added.