China strongly objects to the U.S.......>

CHINA PRESS: China strongly objects to the U.S. stance taken in a submission to

the World Trade Organization opposing designating China as a "market economy,"

an unidentified Ministry of Commerce official said Saturday, according to The

People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's main mouthpiece. The U.S.

submitted the document to express its opinion about China's WTO complaint

against the European Union still using the "surrogate country approach," rather

than a market economy approach, against China when considering whether China's

products are sold at below fair prices ("dumped") in EU countries. Designating

China a market economy would limit the EU's ability to apply anti-dumping rules.

The MOFCOM official said the case is not related to China's "market economy"

status, nor does the WTO have criteria defining what a non-market economy is.

China already filed another compliant against the U.S. regarding its argument,

the official said. China urges the EU and the U.S. to obey their obligations and

stop using the "surrogate country approach" in applying trade rules, the

newspaper said. (People's Daily)