China has appointed a vice-minister of commerce as the top trade negotiator in a bid to better handle China's growing number of international trade disputes, a spokesman said in Beijing Saturday.

Chong Quan, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said that Gao Hucheng, vice-minister of commerce, has been appointed as the ministry's international trade negotiator. Yi Xiaozhun, assistant minister of commerce, was appointed as deputy trade negotiator.

MOFCOM has established a special trade negotiations representative's office, which will organize major trade negotiations.

China has encountered an increasing number of trade barrier cases in the past several years. Last year, the volume reached US$1.26 billion, the highest in the world.

According to a MOFCOM report last month, China has been involved in one-seventh of the world's total anti-dumping cases between January 1995, when the World Trade Organization was founded, and the first half of 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency May 1, 2005)