Share Chinese official named deputy head of WTO Thu, 6 May 2021 Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce Zhang Xiangchen has been appointed as a deputy director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a move that government officials and experts believe is a recognition of the East Asian country’s role in the WTO and its contribution to the multilateral trading system. They also said WTO members, in the face of rising unilateralism and protectionism, should strengthen communication to achieve consensus step-by-step to advance necessary reform of the organisation, in order to safeguard the multilateral trading system and promote the building of an open world economy.