【英语财经】中国为获得市场经济地位加紧游说 China fights for market economy status

China is intensifying lobbying to gain “market economy status” under the World Trade Organisation despite growing opposition in Europe and the US to a move that would make it harder for other major economies to bring anti-dumping cases against Beijing.

Washington and many European politicians, under pressure from protesters fretting about the impact of Chinese imports on jobs, are seeking to block automatic MES for Beijing, which China says should be accorded in December — the 15th anniversary of its 2001 accession to the WTO.

Instead the US and Europe want to gain a few years’ reprieve by requiring China to jump through the hoops for MES when it contests its next anti-dumping case at the WTO.

The timing is especially sensitive as jobs and factories are scythed globally as a result of China-swollen capacity surpluses in areas such as steel.

An upcoming paper from the European Commission analysing the domestic impact attracted more than 5,000 responses during the public comment period, most of them from the steel industry. On Tuesday a commission representative will appear before the European Parliament to lay out its case.

Securing market economy status would benefit China by requiring global trade regulators to compare the price of Chinese exports to its domestic market — instead of higher-priced third countries — in anti-dumping cases and thus limiting their ability to impose tariffs.

“China is firmly against any misinterpretation or delay in performance of the clause. We call on members, such as the US and EU, to take necessary measures as soon as possible in order to ensure ending the use of ‘third countries’ before the due time,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in response to questions from the FT.

Mei Xinyu, a researcher at a think-tank affiliated with the Ministry of Commerce, went further. “If the EU doesn’t want to honour the WTO protocol it has signed, it should consider withdrawing its membership. The clause in the protocol is very clear and it’s unconditional.”

Although international politicians are against the move, European trade negotiators are more supportive. The European Parliament must vote on granting the status to China, whereas the US Trade Representative has some political wiggle-room as it does not keep specific non-MES lists.

The clause in question states that “in any event”, provisions allowing Chinese goods to be compared with those of third countries “shall expire 15 years after the date of accession.”

However, loose language in other parts of the agreement has allowed trade lawyers to argue that importing states can still decide on whether or not China is a market economy after December 2016.

Politicians in Washington and Europe are betting that any challenge would take two to three years to wend its way through the WTO. That could buy their own industries some time.

“China also needs to ask itself if it has really transformed into a complete market economy,” said Zhang Haibin, director of the Centre for International Organizations at Peking University, who believes that US and European concerns about competition are behind the recent unwillingness to grant the status.

“Recognising it or not should have been a simple trade issue, but now there are politics behind it.”

Additional reporting by Luna Lin in Beijing and Christian Oliver in Brussels

中国正在加紧游说，希望获得世界贸易组织(WTO)框架下的“市场经济地位”。不过，欧洲和美国对此的反对日益强烈，因为如果中国获得市场经济地位，那么其他主要经济体将更加难于提起针对中国的反倾销案件。

受到不满进口中国商品冲击就业的抗议者的压力，华盛顿方面和许多欧洲政客正致力于阻止中国自动获得市场经济地位。中国表示，在其加入世贸组织满15周年的今年12月，应自动获得市场经济地位。中国于2001年加入世贸组织。

而美国和欧洲想要拖延几年时间，要求中国在世贸组织对下一次反倾销案进行抗辩之时穿过层层关卡，之后才能获得市场经济地位。

当前时刻尤为敏感，在钢铁等行业，中国严重的产能过剩导致全球大量工人失业、工厂关闭。德国和布鲁塞尔的钢铁工人已走上街头，抗议他们所称的不公平的中国竞争。

欧盟委员会(EC)即将发表的一篇分析各国国内所受影响的报告，在征求公众意见期间得到了逾5000份回复，多数回复者来自于钢铁业。周二，一名欧盟委员会代表将现身欧洲议会(European Parliament)，陈述分析结论。

获得市场经济地位将令中国受益。全球贸易监管机构在审理反倾销案件时，将必须把中国出口产品价格跟中国国内市场——而不是价格更高的替代国——的价格进行比较，这就限制了它们对中国产品强加关税的能力。

“中方坚决反对任何曲解、拖延该条款执行的行为，敦促美欧等成员尽快采取必要措施，确保如期弃用‘替代国’做法，”中国商务部在回答英国《金融时报》的问题时表示。

中国商务部下属的一家智库的研究员梅新育则更进一步。“如果欧盟不想遵守自己签字的世贸组织协议，那就应该考虑放弃成员身份。协议中的该条款是非常明确的，而且是无条件的。”

尽管国际政客持反对意见，但欧洲贸易谈判代表则较为支持。欧洲议会必须就是否给予中国市场经济地位进行投票，而美国贸易代表办公室(USTR)则拥有一定的政治腾挪空间，因为它并不保留一份具体的非市场经济地位国家名单。

相关条款指出，“在任何情况下”，允许将中国产品价格与替代国比较的条款“应在中国加入世贸组织满15年之后失效”。

然而，贸易律师们抓住协议其他部分的模糊语言辩称，在2016年12月之后，进口国仍可以决定是否认为中国是市场经济。

华盛顿和欧洲的政客们在押注，中国提出的任何抗辩，都将在世贸组织内耗费两三年时间。这可能会为他们自己代表的行业赢得一些时间。

“中国也需要自问，自己是否已真正转型为完全的市场经济，”北京大学国际组织研究中心主任张海滨说。他认为，美国和欧洲对于竞争的担心，是他们近来不愿给予中国市场经济地位的原因。

“是否承认中国的市场经济地位，本该是个简单的贸易问题，但现在它背后存在政治因素。”

Luna Lin北京、克里斯蒂安?奥利弗布鲁塞尔(Christian Oliver)布鲁塞尔报道

译者/何黎