China on Thursday urged the European Union to fulfill its World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations.
The EU has proposed changing its anti-dumping legislation in response to the coming expiration of the "surrogate country system."
The European Commission on Wednesday presented a proposal introducing changes to EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy legislation, allowing the use of "international" prices as cost reference.
"Using the concept of 'market distortion' as a substitute for 'non-market' economy is merely extending the former practice, instead of fundamentally ending the surrogate country system," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing.
China will be automatically switched to market economy status when the surrogate country approach expires on Dec. 11, according to the Article 15 of the Protocol on China's accession to the WTO in 2001.
While recognizing abolition of the country list of "non-market economies," Lu said that that China regrets that the EU is not ending the surrogate system once and for all.
He urged the EU to fulfill its WTO obligations by allowing Article 15 to take full effect. New standards and approaches should be justified, reasonable, and transparent, and must not lead to new discrimination.
"China reserves the right to take any necessary steps to defend its own legitimate interests," Lu said.
China hopes the EU, as a core member of the World Trade Organization, will honor its commitments, safeguard international trade order and maintain sound China-EU trade and economic ties, he said.
