"Non-Market Economy Status" And China's Foreign Policy

The provisions on China's "Non-Market Economy Status" in the current international trade remedy laws have been gravely endangering China's proper external trade and national interest. Firstly, because the "surrogate approach" which is pertinent to the provisions of "Non-Market Economy Status" and used to establishing the existence of dumping as well as the dumping margin and "single countrywide duty rule" in the antidumping retaliation make China fail to make strong and suitable reaction. Secondly, owing to the restriction of "Non-Market Economy Status" provisions, overseas anti-subsidy investigations on China also adopt largely the surrogate country method to determine the subsidy ratio so as to make the decision of the existence of subsidy easily and levy the higher anti-subsidy tax. In addition, the special safeguards aiming at Chinese product enact the lower standard than that of general safeguards, which again become the roots of overseas abuses of protection measures aiming at China.The issue of "Non-Market Economy Status" is reservations of the cold war thinking in area of international trade, which birth has profound background of history and politics. The United States of America had played the decisive leading role in the process of this rule's birth and evolvement.In China's negotiations of "Access to the WTO", after balancing the advantages and disadvantages, China had added the "Non-Market Economy Status" provisions to the certain agreement on access to the WTO in order to integrate into the multilateral trade system——advocated by the WTO and aimed at protecting free and fair competition earlier, and to share the benefits of global economic integration, which gives the other countries the legal excuses on rejecting or restricting the products imported from China.The impact of the issue of "Non-Market Economy Status" reflects in the whole system of anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and specific safeguards. Influenced by the relative provisions on China's "Non-Market Economy Status", China not only became the biggest country harmed by anti-dumping in more than 12 years, but became the biggest country injured by anti-subsidy measures. The objects investigated in anti-subsidy procedure include not only the company involved but the government's macro-economic policies as well, which therefore affects severely China's economy, politics and diplomacy.As to the issue of "Non-Market Economy Status", we should neither blindly feel optimistic nor fell neglected, but look at it rationally and analyze calmly the real intention and charges of western countries on this issue. To solve this issue, we should firstly make good use of and participate in the construction of the WTO Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM), the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism and other multilateral mechanisms, as well as establish the Regional Economic Integration and Free Trade Area. In addition, we should establish multilevel and tri-dimensional diplomatic strategy with western countries according to their respectively interest demands. In order to decrease the possible losses to a minimum and safeguard China's economic interests and political interests, China should focus on persuading its major trading partners, such as the United States and the European Union, to recognize China's market economy status, thereby struggle to resolve the issue of China's "Non-Market Economy Status" thoroughly as soon as possible.