Chinese State Councillor Wu Yi said that China has the ability to shoulder the related responsibilities and duties and should enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) as soon as possible.

"The WTO will be incomplete without China's participation, and long-term exclusion of China from the organization will not help the improvement and implementation of the world multilateral trade system," Wu said.

"China's early participation in the WTO will be beneficial to the country's reform and opening-up as well as its long-term economic development. It will also make it possible for China to contribute more to the world," she said.

She made the remarks in a keynote speech at the Multinational Corporations Investment Strategy Seminar in Xiamen, Fujian Province, on September 8, saying that the effects of the Asian financial crisis should not be underestimated, as its aftermath will last for quite a long time.

China needs a sound domestic social order and development, as well as sympathy and support from the world community in coping with the challenge, adding that China has begun to be extensively involved in worldwide multilateral trade at a time when it is opening wider to the outside world and the Asian-Pacific economic cooperation is increasing.

She noted that China has also carried out its own responsibilities and international duties, and obtained corresponding rights and interests in conducting bilateral economic and trade exchanges with more than 200 countries and regions. As a result, China has promoted its economy and improved its people's lives in the process.

China is confident of overcoming difficulties brought about by the crisis, and maintaining foreign trade increases and sustained, rapid and sound economic development, despite the fact that the country's exports to Southeast Asia have begun to drop and the amount of investment from the region has decreased dramatically.