中国要求美国将其视为市场经济国家

China Asks US To Stop Treating It As Non-Market Economy

A senior Chinese diplomat Thursday called on the U.S. to stop treating the country as a non-market economy, but apparently failed to convince U.S. industry representatives and lawmakers.

At a fact-finding hearing held by the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade Working Group - a forum set up jointly by the two countries in April to discuss bilateral trade and economic issues - Dai Yunlow, the Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, emphasized his country's progress in shifting to a market economy and requested that the U.S. stop categorizing the country as a non-market economy.

"The Chinese economy is operating on the basis of market principles to a sufficient extent," Dai said, adding that his government "looks forward to discussions with the United States on the issues of revoking China's current NME (non-market economy) status" within the framework of the U.S. antidumping law.

Dai's appeal reflects China's growing frustration about the U.S. stance on the issue overall and, in particular, about its application when the U.S. government considers dumping complaints filed by domestic businesses against Chinese exporters.

When a dumping complaint is filed against a non-market economy country's product, the U.S. dumping law requires the Commerce Department to calculate a fair market value for the product by using not the country's own input prices and costs, but a different, market-based country's equivalent data. Commerce regards the data of non-market economies as distorted because of government intervention.

This method of calculation, some analysts say, often results in an estimated fair value of the allegedly dumped product far higher than its face value.

But Dai told the committee that such a practice is no longer appropriate for Chinese products.

"China has made phenomenal progress" in its shift to a market economy, he argued, by such measures as allowing currency convertibility on the current account, leaving workers' salary determination mainly to markets and drastically lowering government intervention in resource allocation.

All of the U.S. industry representatives and lawmakers who testified in the hearing, however, said the Chinese economy is still far from the one being market-based and suggested the U.S. government take care in reviewing the status when a formal request is made by Beijing.

"From my point of view, and of many of my colleagues in Congress," said Representative Phil English , R-Penn., "China is not simply ready at this point to graduate from non-market economy status for the purposes of the U.S. anti-dumping law."

Among China's many economic practices, such as state-guided export control and resource allocation, that disqualify it from a market economy status, the U.S. Congressman pointed out its pegged currency system, under which the country has effectively fixed its yuan against the U.S. dollar at CNY8.28.

"It is widely accepted that the yuan is significantly undervalued against the dollar, to which it is pegged...as a result, China's exchange rate is not market based," he said.

Although Thursday's hearing was hosted by the Commerce Department, it didn't constitute as part of a formal process of U.S. review of China's non-market economy status. In order to launch the process, China must formally make a request to the U.S. government.

Asked by reporters after the testimony about the timing of such a request, Dai avoided a direct answer, only saying "It's hard to say."
中国要求美国将其视为市场经济国家

中国一位资深外交官周四要求美国不再将中国作为非市场经济国家对待，但他显然未能说服美国的工商业代表和国会议员。

中国驻美使馆经商参赞戴云楼在中美商贸联委会结构性问题工作组举行的调查听证会上强调，中国在向市场经济转轨方面取得了进展，他要求美国停止将中国列为非市场经济国家。

他说，中国经济很大程度上是在市场原则的基础上运作的。他表示，中国政府期待与美国商讨在美国的反倾销法框架内，取消中国目前的非市场经济国家地位的问题。

戴云楼的呼吁反映出中国对美国在此问题上的立场，特别是中国政府对于美国政府在审议美国企业针对中国进口商提出的倾销指控中使用这一标准越来越感到沮丧。

当某个非市场经济国家的产品受到倾销指控，美国反倾销法要求商务部(Commerce Department)计算出该产品的合理市场价值，计算依据不是该国自己的投入价格和成本，而是使用另外一个市场经济国家的相应数据。商务部认为非市场经济国家的数据由于受到政府干预而被扭曲。

一些分析师说，这种计算方法通常会导致估算出的被指倾销产品的合理价值远远高出其实际价值。

但是戴云楼说，这种计算方法用于中国产品上已经不再适当。他说，中国在向市场经济转轨方面取得了巨大进展，采取了允许人民币在经常项目下可兑换、主要由市场来决定工人工资，以及大幅降低政府对资源配置的干预等措施。

不过，出席听证会的所有美国工商业代表和议员均表示，中国经济距离市场经济尚有较大差距，称美国政府在北京提出审议这一问题的正式请求时应当慎重从事。

宾夕法尼亚州共和党众议员Phil English说，在他和众多其他国会议员看来，中国目前还没有做好准备，以满足美国反倾销法要求，从非市场经济国家晋身于市场经济国家。

他指出，中国的很多做法，如国家对出口和资源配置实行控制，使其无法获得市场经济国家地位。他还指出中国的汇率制度并非基于市场，而是实行将人民币兑美元固定在8.28元的联系汇率制度。

尽管周四的听证会是由商务部主持，但听证会并非美国审议中国非市场经济国家地位的正式程序中的一部分。中国必须向美国政府正式提出要求，才能启动这一程序。

当被记者在听证会后问及中国将于何时提出该要求时，戴云楼没有直接作答，只是表示“这很难说”。

美国首轮听证会拒绝给予中国""市场经济""地位

US commission hears testimony rejecting China market economy status - Xinhua

Testimony before the US commission in Washington that will determine China's trade status was largely opposed to granting Beijing recognition as a market economy, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Industry and labor representatives registered their opposition to market economy status for China at the joint commission on commerce and trade working group, the report said.

The commission will recommend to the US Department of Commerce what action to take on China's trade status, based on its findings from the hearings.

A report from the AFL-CIO labor federation raised a number of ""crucial issues"" such as China's currency controls, protection of labor rights, government subsidies, the health of the country's banking sector, and ongoing government intervention in all sectors of the economy.

""The time is not right for bilateral talks on the subject,"" the AFL-CIO said.

Steel industry representatives led US Steel Corp also presented a 154 page report arguing that China ""does not meet any of the criteria for a market economy.""

China's representatives led by Dai Yunlou, the economic and commercial counselor from the Chinese embassy, said the US needs to start recognizing China as something other than its current concept of a non-market economy.

""The time has come for the US to recognize China as a market economy,"" he said, noting China's status as the fourth-largest exporting country and third-largest in terms of import volume.

China agreed to join the World Trade Organization in December 2001 as a ""non-market economy."" This means that in anti-dumping investigations, countries can use prices of third-country markets, such as India, as a benchmark to compare with domestic prices in making a determination whether Chinese products have been dumped or not.

So far, New Zealand and Malaysia have agreed to recognize China as a market economy. But the EU and the US, two of China's biggest trading partners, have so far refused to do so.
美国首轮听证会拒绝给予中国""市场经济""地位

据新华社报道, 美国东部时间6月3日早9时多, 由美中商业和贸易联合委员会结构性问题工作组主办, 就是否给予中国市场经济国家地位进行的第一轮听证会, 在美国商务部主楼大厅举行。与会的美国各行业协会、企业或个人提供了不同领域的证明材料, 一致要求美国商务部维持中国的""非市场经济地位"", 使中国的产品继续接受美国反倾销法的约束。

美国劳工联盟及产业工会联合会(AFL-CIO)的证词说: 我们认为目前在几项关键性标准, 包括货币控制、基本的工人权利保护、不合理的补贴、功能失灵的银行部门和政府对经济的广泛干预方面，中国不符合市场经济的标准。因此, 美国目前与中国政府进行有关是否给予中国市场经济地位的谈判的时机还不成熟。


美国钢铁公司(United States Steel Corporation)递交了154页的证词材料, 论述它认为""中国不符合市场经济国家的所有特征""的理由。


中国驻美使馆商务处公使衔参赞戴云楼发言称: 现在, 到了美国政府改变以前关于非市场经济国家定义的时候了, 也到了美国该承认中国市场经济地位的时候了。他说, 中国已是世界第四大出口国, 第三大进口国, 经济地位重要。


2001年中国以非市场经济国家地位加入了世界贸易组织(WTO), 这意味着, 在反倾销调查方面, WTO成员国可以按第三国商品市场价格作为评判中国产品是否构成倾销的标准。


迄今, 有新西兰、马来西亚等国承认中国为市场经济国地位, 但欧盟、美国这两个中国最大贸易伙伴却仍拒绝承认中国为""市场经济国家""。