Quite frankly, why should they stick to WTO rules? It is an organisation that seems entirely beholden to Western interests, to the degree that the US has decide

Quite frankly, why should they stick to WTO rules? It is an organisation that seems entirely beholden to Western interests, to the degree that the US has decided to simply stop it from doing anything by blocking judge appointments because they didn't want to follow their own rules. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that the WTO is essentially a feckless and weak organisation that exists to muscle smaller countries in line with US interest. No one powerful care about its rules, so I doubt that China's succession made much of any difference at all.