US Complains About China's Progress On WTO Promise
The U.S. on Thursday called on China to step up its efforts to fulfill its trade liberalization commitments it had pledged on its entry two years ago into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In its second annual review of China's progress on the matter, the office of the United States Trade Representative expressed deep disappointment and criticism toward Beijing.
"The shortcomings in China's WTO implementation are noteworthy. Unlike last year, China's uneven and incomplete WTO compliance record can no longer be attributed to start-up problems," the USTR report said.
Although the report said the U.S. is willing to continue bilateral negotiations to solve the problem, it said, "If bilateral efforts are not successful...the administration is fully prepared to enforce U.S. right through other means, including dispute resolution at WTO."
The report especially noted that China's efforts to implement WTO-related promises had lost momentum in 2003.
While China made some progress in areas such as reform in agriculture trade and financial services, its failure to comply with many other WTO-related commitments largely offset the progress, the report said.
The report also criticized Beijing's attempt to turn other countries' attention from its delay in fulfilling those promises.
"China has sought to deflect attention from its inadequate implementation of required systemic changes by managing trade in such a way as to temporarily increase affected imports from vocal trading partners, such as the United States," the USTR said.
The report, like last year's, singled out agriculture, intellectual property rights and services as areas of the U.S.' "serious concern."
For example, China's failure to protect intellectual property rights remains "pervasive" across many areas of business activities.
"The lack of effective IPR (intellectual property right) enforcement in China is a major obstacle toward a meaningful system of IPR protection," the report noted.
In agriculture trade, Beijing's use of biotech-related rules and other measures keep hampering U.S. exports of soybeans and other agricultural products, the report said.
In addition to these areas, China's use of industrial policies and other practices have developed as new sources of U.S. concern.
The questionable use of these non-tariff trade barriers was "particularly apparent in the automotive sector, where a proposed industrial policy threatens to undercut many U.S. industry gains in China's market," the report said.
美国抱怨中国入世承诺履行不力
美国周四向中国发出呼吁，要求其加快履行于2年前加入世界贸易组织(World Trade Organization, 简称WTO)时在贸易自由化方面所作的承诺。
美国贸易代表办公室(office of the United States Trade Representative)在其评估中国贸易自由化进展情况的第二份年度报告中对北京深表失望并提出了批评。
这份报告说，中国在履行对WTO所作承诺方面的不足是显而易见的。报告称，与去年不同，不能再将中国未能全面履行其对WTO所作承诺归因于起步时的不适应。
虽然这份报告称，美国愿意继续通过双边谈判来解决这一问题，但报告也表示，如果双边努力未获成功，美国政府也保留通过其他手段解决问题的权利，包括诉诸于WTO的争端解决机制。
报告特别指出，2003年中国在履行与WTO有关承诺方面已经失去了动力。
报告称，尽管中国在农产品贸易和金融服务等领域的改革上取得了一些进展，但由于其对WTO的其他许多承诺都未能履行，这些进展所产生的积极意义大体上都被抵消掉了。
报告还指责中国政府试图将其他国家的注意力从其未履行这些承诺上转移开去。
该报告称，中国通过临时性增加从美国等发出抱怨的贸易伙伴处的进口，以试图转移人们对其未能按要求进行系统性变革而产生的关注。
与去年一样，报告也将农业、知识产权和服务业等方面列为美国“严重关注”的领域。
例如，中国在商业活动的许多领域仍未能有效保护知识产权。
报告指出，在知识产权保护方面执法不力是中国建立知识产权保护有效体系的主要障碍。
报告称，在农产品贸易方面，中国通过与生物技术相关的法规和其他措施来为从美国进口大豆和其他农产品设置障碍。
此外，中国在产业政策的运用等方面也引起了美国新的担忧。
报告说，汽车领域的非关税壁垒尤其显著，一项拟议中的汽车产业政策有可能使美国汽车业在中国市场的利益蒙受很大损害。
