diff --git a/src/xercesc/util/Xerces_autoconf_config.msvc.hpp b/src/xercesc/util/Xerces_autoconf_config.msvc.hpp
index 685cef35da968714aec6e2f81ce23150bdbb582a..df44aa8096d74aea86285c06da5c0dd0f2070437 100644
--- a/src/xercesc/util/Xerces_autoconf_config.msvc.hpp
+++ b/src/xercesc/util/Xerces_autoconf_config.msvc.hpp
@@ -53,7 +53,13 @@
 #define XERCES_S32BIT_INT   INT32
 #define XERCES_U16BIT_INT   UINT16
 #define XERCES_U32BIT_INT   UINT32
+
+#ifdef _NATIVE_WCHAR_T_DEFINED 
+#define XERCES_XMLCH_T      wchar_t
+#else
 #define XERCES_XMLCH_T      unsigned short
+#endif
+
 #define XERCES_SIZE_T       SIZE_T
 #define XERCES_SSIZE_T      SSIZE_T