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Chinese companies have been subjected to fewer investigations into cases of trade dumping, subsidies and protectionism since becoming a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) a year ago.
From January to October this year, Chinese industries were the subjects of 47 cases abroad, compared with 67 for the whole of 2001.
With the rapid development of its foreign trade, China became one of the countries severely affected by anti-dumping allegations and protectionist measures. From 1978 to 2001, 33 countries and regions undertook anti-dumping and protectionist measures against China, bringing forward 498 cases concerning over 4,000 products and affecting over US$16 billion in exports. In 2001, 17 countries and regions launched a record 67 investigations against China.
China's expanding foreign trade arouses resistance from some other WTO countries. Because of the pressure brought by the global economic downturn, many countries took trade protection measures permitted by the WTO to resist imports and protect their own domestic industries, trade analysts say.
Since joining the WTO, China has made full use of WTO rules and dispute mechanisms, which have helped to build a fair trade environment for Chinese firms.
WTO entry improved the multilateral environment for China to fight trade protection measures. China can negotiate with other WTO members or bring the case to arbitration, according to analysts.
In the past year, the Chinese government made many international agreements requiring other countries reasonably to amend their anti-dumping policies and admit China's exports. These efforts made it difficult for foreign firms to make anti-dumping allegations against Chinese firms.
China has also established an alert mechanism through the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Chinese business organizations abroad, foreign law office and foreign import dealers, to quickly respond to the anti-dumping and protectionist measures.
(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2002)
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