Chinese Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Sun
Zhenyu on Wednesday voiced China's concerns over US trade policies
and urged the US to respond to those concerns.
"While we have full confidence in further developing the
bilateral economic and trade relations, China has some concerns
about US trade policies," Sun told a World Trade Organization (WTO)
review of US trade policy in the past two years.
He said China's major concerns include the "twin deficits" of
trade and finance, fulfillment of transparency obligations, fair
implementation of anti-dumping measures and foreign investment
restrictions in the service sector.
According to Sun, the US, the most frequent user of the WTO
dispute settlement mechanism, is always quick to demand compliance
from others when WTO rulings are in its favor, but fails to meet
WTO "prompt compliance" requirement when rulings are against its
interests.
He also accused the US of undermining the world trading system
by using national security concerns "in an excessive way" to get
around the rules, saying that had significantly affected the normal
operation of international trade and foreign direct investment
(FDI) flows.
"Recently the US exerted pressure and imposed restrictions on
inward FDI on account of national security, which prevent foreign
companies from seeking merger and acquisition within the country.
These have dealt heavy blows to members' confidence in the business
environment of the US," he said.
"By interpreting and applying WTO national security clauses in
an excessive way, it has again seriously undermined the credibility
of the multilateral trade regime, over which China is highly
concerned," he stressed.
Sun also pointed out that it was not wise for the US to restrict
the export of high-tech products to China, as it had deprived many
American high-tech enterprises of the opportunities to do business
with China.
"This policy not only harmed the interests of American
exporters, but also made trade deficit situation even worse between
the two countries," he said.
Sun also criticized the frequent use of anti-dumping measures by
the US, noting that quite a number of those practices are not
consistent with WTO anti-dumping rules.
He also urged the US to assume greater responsibility in pushing
forward the Doha round of global trade negotiations, which is
expected to conclude by the end of this year but still faces huge
challenges.
The US should make further steps forward in cutting domestic
support for agriculture, thereby making due contributions to the
progress of the Doha round negotiations, he said.
All WTO member undergo periodic reviews of their trade policies
by the Geneva-based trade body, and China was not the only one to
express concerns over the US trade policy, especially its use of
national security concerns as a reason to block trade deals.
The EU, the US' biggest trading partner, noted that there was a
need to strike "a better balance" between security concerns and
avoiding "unnecessary and costly burdens" to legitimate business in
a statement to the WTO.
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2006)
