Research On The Development Of The Rules Of State-Owned Enterprises In Free Trade Agreements

The increasing participation of state-owned enterprises in emerging markets countries in international market competition has caused tremendous pressure and threat to developed countries such as the United States and Australia.Developed countries generally believe that state-owned enterprises in emerging markets have obtained competitive advantages that private enterprises can’t obtain based on ownership,thereby distorting the market competition environment.In order to protect the interests of their private enterprises,the rules of state-owned enterprises stipulated by the developed countries in the free trade agreements in which they have participated are becoming stricter.The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement(TPP)is currently the most comprehensive and specific free trade agreement covering state-owned enterprise rules and involving the most negotiated countries.The theory of state trading enterprises under the WTO legal system is not clear,and their corresponding obligations are also ambiguous.Therefore,the DSB of WTO tend to determine in the individual cases whether the companies involved are state trading enterprises and whether the disputes constitute discriminatory treatment or subsidies.The TPP agreement uses ownership standards to clearly define state-owned enterprises and expand the scope of state-owned enterprises;in terms of applying non-discriminatory treatment and receiving assistance to state-owned enterprises,the TPP agreement put forward higher standards on the basis of inheriting relevant WTO rules,and formulated non-discriminatory treatment rules and non-business assistance rules for state-owned enterprises.The non-discriminatory treatment rule expands the connotation of the non-discriminatory treatment rules for state-owned trading enterprises under the WTO system,which explicitly includes most favored nation treatment and national treatment,and requires state-owned enterprises to engage in commercial activities only from commercial considerations;The non-commercial assistance rules directly combine state-owned enterprises with subsidies,which not only relaxes the criteria for non-commercial assistance recognition,but also extends the application of this obligation to goods,services and international investment.With the continuous deepening of opening to the outside world,Chinese state-owned enterprises’ participation in international competition has steadily increased,and it has also become a major competitor of domestic enterprises in western developed countries.These developed countries more or less regard Chinese state-owned enterprises as potential regulatory targets when formulating high-standard state-owned enterprise rules,which has a huge impact on Chinese state-owned enterprises.High-standard definition of state-owned enterprises covers most of Chinese state-owned enterprises;strict non-discriminatory treatment rule has impacted the existing laws and policies of state-owned enterprises in China,commercial consideration rule also make non-discriminatory treatment more direct and clear in identification,which hinders the realization of public functions of state-owned enterprises.Non-commercial assistance rule directly deny the reality of state-owned enterprises receiving funding in China.It is necessary for China to improve relevant domestic laws and regulations before the development of high-standard state-owned enterprise rules into universally binding international rules,and use the latest state-owned enterprise rules as a reference to clarify the legal definition of state-owned enterprises and the relationship between the government and state-owned enterprises.And in accordance with the actual situation of state-owned economic development,standardize state-owned enterprise subsidy rules and unify state-owned enterprise supervision agency.Second,clarify the connotation and realization path of the principle of competition neutrality in the free trade zone.Third,explore the solution of the principle of competition neutrality to guide the reform of state-owned enterprises.At the same time,China should actively participate in the formulation of state-owned enterprise rules in the free trade agreement,and put forward state-owned enterprise rules that are in line with the reality of Chinese state-owned enterprise reform and protect core national rights and interests in the process of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements and the Belt and Road construction.