Regulation Of State-owned Enterprises Under Competitive Neutrality And China’s Countermeasures

State-owned enterprises(SOEs),unlike private enterprises,are a means of government intervention in the economy due to the close relationship of ownership and control between the government and themselves.With the advancement of globalization,SOEs are participating in cross-border trade and investment activities more and more frequently,and the global economy has recovered due to the activation of SOEs,but at the same time,the unfair competitive advantages enjoyed by SOEs in terms of specific subsidies and supervision conferred by the government have caused distortion of market competition and harmed the interests of other market players,which has aroused great concern from the international community.Since there is no specific regulation measures for the competitive advantage of SOEs under the WTO framework,developed countries,led by the US and Europe,began to incorporate the policy of competition neutrality,which emphasizes the establishment of a level playing field for market players,into the rules of regulation of state-owned enterprises as an international rule,and incorporated it into the provisions of bilateral and regional trade agreements for state-owned enterprises,thus giving rise to a new generation of SOE regulations.The regulations on SOEs in free trade agreements(FTAs)represented by CPTPP and USMCA mainly expand the scope and intensity of regulation on SOEs from the definition of SOEs,non-discrimination and commercial considerations,non-commercial assistance and corporate governance regulations,raising the obligations of SOEs and achieving the goal of limiting the adverse effects of SOEs on private enterprises in other countries due to their dominant position.Although China has not yet participated in FTAs containing SOE provisions,given that the issue of SOEs in China has been criticized at the international level for years,and in the context of the spillover of competitive neutrality into international rules,the regulation of SOEs,as a key issue in the current international economic and trade arena,will certainly be included in future trade and investment negotiations and indirectly or directly affect the participation of Chinese SOEs in transnational activities.Therefore,by studying the development trend and specific content of SOE rules under competition,it can help China to formulate countermeasures in advance,and also help China to align with the international competition policy and promote the reform of SOEs in China.The discussion in this paper focuses on the necessity of SOE regulations,the connotation of competition neutrality and the development of its application in SOE rules,summarizes through specific SOE provisions in typical FTAs,such as CPTPP,USMCA,EPA,and CAI,horizontal comparisons with relevant rules under traditional WTO-covered agreements,and vertical comparisons with each agreement,and concludes the development characteristics of state-owned enterprise rules.Finally,from the perspective of China’s position,we analyze the impact of the new SOE regulations on China and explore the legal countermeasures to cope with it.This paper consists of three parts: introduction,main body and conclusion,and the main body consists of four chapters.Chapter 1 discusses the importance of the existence of SOEs and the necessity of regulation on them,attempting to sort out the reasons for the emergence of SOE rules.Chapter 2 introduces the development of competition neutrality from domestic law to international law,and analyzes the rationale for applying competition neutrality to SOE rules and its evolutionary path by analyzing the shortcomings of SOE regulation under the WTO framework and the different positions of major economies.Chapter 3 summarizes the development trend of SOE regulation in the new generation of FTAs around non-discrimination and commercial consideration provisions in SOE rules,non-commercial considerations and corporate governance provisions.Chapter 4 builds on the previous discussion by first clarifying the impact of the SOE regulations on China,exploring China’s position on competition neutrality,and then figuring out the China’s specific responses to the SOE rule at both the domestic and international levels.