China, the world's second largest economy after the US, on Wednesday asserted that it is "still a developing country", arguing that it continued to grapple with the problems of inadequate and unbalanced development.
Threatening to pull the US out of the World Trade Organisation (WTP) over what he described as its unfair treatment of America, President Donald Trump last month said that India and China are no longer "developing nations" and are "taking advantage" of the tag from the global trade body.
Earlier this week, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during his visit to the US criticised China's continuing status as a developing country under the WTO rules, bolstering Trump's claim.
Addressing the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Morrison said it was time for China to accept greater responsibility.
Countering Morrison's assertion, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said, "China is still a developing country. There is an extensive widespread consensus. So, sticking to our position of our status as a developing country is the basic right for developing countries and upholding international justice."
Underlining that the WTO's present classification for the developing countries is "reasonable", he said, "China still has the problem of inadequate and unbalanced development. We are faced with the difficulty of improving our development quality and effectiveness."