The Republic of Korea (ROK) on Wednesday accorded China full
market-economy status to protect Chinese exports from anti-dumping
duties.
ROK President Roh Moo-hyun announced this at a joint news
conference after 90 minutes of talks with his Chinese counterpart
Hu
Jintao.
Hu expressed his appreciation, saying the move would strongly
push forward economic and trade cooperation between the two
countries.
China is the ROK's largest trading partner, with trade volume
expected to reach US$100 billion this year and US$200 billion in
2012.
Under the terms of China's 2001 accession to the World Trade
Organization, members of the trade body can treat China as a
"non-market economy" until 2016.
So far, 43 nations have recognized China as a full market
economy but the country's major trading partners including the
United States, the European Union and Japan have yet to do so.
The non-market economy status has left China a victim of rampant
anti-dumping measures imposed by other WTO members, which often use
production costs in other countries to evaluate whether Chinese
exports are dumped on them or unreasonably priced.
Hu arrived in Seoul on Wednesday for a two-day state visit on
the heels of a week-long European tour that took him to Britain,
Germany and Spain. He will attend a meeting of the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum in Busan tomorrow and Saturday.
In a written statement upon his arrival, Hu said the fast growth
in cooperation between China and the ROK has contributed to
regional peace and development.
Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two
countries 13 years ago, partnership in all fields has grown
rapidly, Hu said.
This has brought tangible benefits to the peoples of both
countries, he said.
During their talks, Hu and Roh expressed a common commitment to
a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula by calling for more flexibility in
dealing with the nuclear standoff there.
They said a statement signed at the fourth round of the
Six-Party Talks in Beijing in September was a "foundation" for
ending the stalemate.
"Both sides shared the view that each party to the talks should
show sincere flexibility on its position, and implement the
statement in order to ensure continued progress in the talks," they
said in a joint statement after the summit.
The Six-Party Talks, which also include the United States,
Japan, Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK),
produced an agreement in September under which Pyongyang would give
up all nuclear programs in exchange for security guarantees and
energy assistance.
However, the DPRK is demanding that it be given a light-water
reactor for power generation before it dismantles its atomic
projects.
At the first phase of the fifth round of Six-Party Talks in
Beijing last week, the six nations pledged to continue pushing
ahead with diplomatic efforts and enter a second phase "at the
earliest possible date."
(China Daily November 17, 2005)