In response to the U.S. formally telling the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it opposes granting China market economy status, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press conference that the so-called "non-market economy country" concept does not exist in the WTO's multilateral rules.
"This so-called "non-market economy country" concept does not exist in the WTO's multilateral rules. It is the domestic product of individual members during the Cold War," he said. "Of the 164 WTO members, very few of them have such domestic laws," he added.
According to Article 15 of the Protocol on China's Accession to the World Trade Organization, Geng said the practice of alternative antidumping methodologies needs to be terminated, as required by the protocol of accession. "This has nothing to do with whether China meets the criteria of market economy status," he said
"Some countries and people are trying to connect the two," he said. Geng noted that Article 15 of the China's accession agreement clearly stipulates that since December 11, 2016, the practice of using a surrogate country approach for anti-dumping investigations against China must be dropped. "This is very clear and unquestionable. All WTO members should make good on their promise," Geng said.
U.S. opposition was made public on Thursday as part of a third-party brief in support of the European Union in a dispute with China, according to media reports.
China has called for terminating the use of third-country price comparisons in anti-dumping investigations against Chinese companies and products, a practice that usually leads to high anti-dumping duties on Chinese goods.
