HONG KONG

No American company would seem to have more to gain than General Electric from the Obama administration’s decision on Wednesday to accuse China, in a World Trade Organization case, of providing illegal subsidies to Chinese wind turbine makers.

Like other multinationals, G.E. acquiesced a few years ago to the Chinese government’s demand that it build a large wind turbine factory in China  only to then watch its market share plummet as China’s state-owned power companies steered contracts to homegrown wind turbine manufacturers. And now G.E. faces growing competition from those Chinese upstarts in its home market, the United States  even as a crucial G.E. wind turbine patent is about to expire.

But with so much to potentially gain from the administration’s W.T.O. case, what was G.E.’s reaction? Total silence. The company said it would have no comment on the matter.

G.E.’s silence is part of a broader Western corporate reluctance to criticize Chinese policies, particularly in public. So eager are multinationals for continued access to the world’s fastest-growing market that they are loath to cry foul even amid evidence that China may be flouting international trade laws.