On July 5, 2018 local time, when jointly meeting the press with Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl of Austria in Vienna, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed at inquiry that pursuing trade protectionism is a short-sighted act that harms others without benefiting oneself. Any unilateral action violates the rules of the World Trade Organization and harms the multilateral trade system, and will also cast a shadow on the recovery momentum and development prospects of the world economy.

Wang Yi said that in today's economic globalization, various countries are highly integrated into the international division of labor, and the industrial chain and value chain are linked to each other. Provoking trade disputes is an approach against the trend of the history, which not only harms the interests of the two parties concerned, but will certainly hurt the interests of all parties in the global industrial chain. China's resistance to trade protectionism is not only to safeguard its own legitimate interests, but also to safeguard the common interests of all countries in the world, including the European Union (EU).

Wang Yi said that China and the EU are both the beneficiaries and defenders of the multilateral trade system. Under the current situation, China and the EU should jointly safeguard the multilateralism and the rules-based free trade system, which is not only our common obligation, but also the responsible behavior we should adopt towards the world. China is now standing at the forefront of opposing unilateralism and trade protectionism, and does not want someone to stab us in the back.