China and EU call for strengthening WTO, amid crisis of U.S. veto

"Let us join hands and take real actions to uphold the authority and efficacy of the WTO," Chinese Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan and told the WTO, which has been pushed into crisis by a U.S. veto of new judges for trade disputes.

"We need to have a clear objective in mind," European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said. "For the European Union, this is clear: to preserve and to strengthen the rules-based multilateral trading system."

(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Tom Miles; Editing by Alison Williams)