China's market economy status 'political': attorney
Updated: 2015-01-23 11:29
By NIU YUE in New York(China Daily USA)
|
|||||||||
![]() |
William Perry, partner of Dorsey & Whitney LLP, speak at Brooklyn Law School on Jan 21 in New York. Lu Huiquan / For China Daily |
China's market-economy status, which is vital in anti-dumping investigations, is more political than economic,according to an attorney who represents Chinese enterprises and American importers in anti-dumping cases in the United States.
"This is a political decision," William Perry, partner of Dorsey and Whitney LLP, said Wednesday during a seminar on China-US trade disputes at Brooklyn Law School. "Understand that. That's the reality."
Perry has been representing Chinese exporters and manufacturers in anti-dumping cases since 1991 and has worked with the International Trade Commission and the US Department of Commerce (DOC).
The comment comes at a time of heated debateon whether China will be automatically recognized as a market economy.
China agreed that other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) could regard it as a "non-market economy" for 15 years from Dec 11, 2001, as a condition of joiningthe WTO in 2001.As the deadline of Dec 11, 2016, draws near, there have been disputes on whether China would be automatically recognized by other WTO members, based on different understandings of China's accession agreement.
China has been negotiating with other WTO members one by one to win market-economy status before 2016. Dozens of countries, including Russia, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore, have granted China that status.
Meanwhile, some of China's major trading partners, including the US and the European Union (EU),have not, saying that China has not met their criteria.
"Some of the bigger problems with China right now [are] the extensive industrial planning in China," said Christopher Cloutier, partner of King & Spalding LLP, which filed and prosecuted the first successful anti-subsidy case against China in 2007.
"There are some elements that are not very market-oriented, for example, preventing foreign ownership," he said, citing an industrial plan to develop China's iron and steel industry.
But Perry insisted the issue is more political, giving Russia and Ukraine as two examples. Russia and Ukraine won US recognition, respectively, in 2002, after the Afghan War, and in 2006 after the Orange Revolution.
Chinese state-controlled businesses now contribute to less than 40 percent of GDP. “It should be given a market [economy] status … the areas that are not state controlled are highly competitive. The areas they are protecting… they have good reasons,” said Ann Lee, author of What US Could Learn from China and an adjunct professor with New York University.
Across America Over the Week (Jan 16- Jan 22)Birmingham's Spotlight on China dinner
How to distinguish doucai, wucai, Famille-rose and enamel porcelain
Xinjiang lake in bumper fishing season
Senior maternity matron a high-income job
Highly educated people seem more willful than the rich
Li predicts bright future for real estate
Wanda boosts its branding in Europe
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
Today's Top News
China to focus on reforms, opening of capital market
Birmingham's Spotlight on China dinner
Bank takes renminbi-clearing seriously
Traditional Garb
HK trade office refresh ties in Toronto
Chinese developer buys Canadian ghost town
Beijing gears up for Super Bowl
Premier Li's Davos speech draws praise
US Weekly
![]()
|
![]()
|