China remains the biggest challenge to the international trading system, the Office of the US Trade Representative said in its annual report to the US Congress on China’s WTO compliance released on Friday.
“It has been 22 years since China acceded to the WTO, and China still embraces a state-directed, nonmarket approach to the economy and trade, which runs counter to the norms and principles embodied by the WTO,” a release from the office quoted US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) as saying.
“Even more problematic, China’s approach targets industries for global market domination by Chinese companies using an array of constantly evolving nonmarket policies and practices,” Tai said.
Photo: Reuters
“This report details the breadth and scale of China’s nonmarket policies and practices and the serious harm that they cause to workers, businesses and industries in the United States and around the world,” she added. “It is a stark reminder that the members of the international trading system must continue to work together to defend our shared interests against these many harmful policies and practices, particularly in sectors targeted by China’s industrial plans.”
China’s “socialist market economy,” which it was pursuing when it joined the WTO in 2001, “has turned decidedly predatory,” the report says.
In related developments, Taiwan is to urge the WTO to more efficiently handle unfair subsidizing of nonmarket economies, and four other proposals at the WTO’s Ministerial Conference, which runs from tomorrow to Thursday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), who heads the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations, yesterday departed for the meeting alongside Representative to the WTO Lo Chang-fa (羅昌發).
The biennial meeting is the highest-ranking decisionmaking organ in the WTO and usually discusses the body’s policy to facilitate multilateral trading among WTO members.
Taiwan is to introduce proposals for the WTO to take action to ensure that existing measures to resolve trade disputes resume, implement more stringent regulations on countries that capture large volumes of fish to ensure the sustainable development of the industry, discourage countries from restricting exports to ensure food safety, and show other members that a free, open and accepting Taiwan presents greater opportunities for economic and financial collaboration, the Office of Trade Negotiations said.
Since Taiwan’s entry into the WTO in 2002, its foreign trade value has increased nearly 2.5-fold and become more closely integrated with the world economy, it said.
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