Only when key WTO members discard a zero-sum, Cold War mentality and firmly uphold win-win multilateralism can reforms of the multilateral trading system become successful and benefit world economic growth, they said at the two-day 22nd Annual Conference on the WTO and China, which kicked off both online and offline on Tuesday.

"There were instances when we had to discard an entire truckload of durians due to delays in transportation.

"We need to discard a Cold War mentality and seek peaceful coexistence and win-win outcomes," he said, pointing out that "confrontation does not solve problems; it only invites catastrophic consequences".

The country's once-thriving scrap plastics importing and processing businesses — where the world's discards were sorted, shredded, cleaned, melted and transformed into polyester for clothing and a range of other products — are also having to adjust.

With the registration-based reform set to increase the number of listed firms, pricing efficiency of the A-share market will get a boost as investors funnel their money into quality firms and discard those with less attractive fundamentals, he said, adding that price drops for newly listed shares will also become more commonplace.