Beijing praises German stance on China’s status in the WTO

China praised Germany’s position over Article 15 in the protocol on China’s accession to the World Trade Organization, saying it hopes to see Germany continue to play a positive role on the issue.

Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s vice-chancellor and foreign minister, called for the implementation of the article during talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday.

Gabriel said Article 15 should be implemented and that revision of the European Union’s laws should not target or discriminate against any country and should comply with the WTO’s rules.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a news conference in Beijing on Thursday that Gabriel’s statements reflect “a responsible attitude of the German government”.

Lu called on the EU to implement the article “comprehensively and thoroughly as soon as possible”, and said China hopes to see Germany continue to play a positive role in helping accomplish this.

According to Article 15, WTO member nations should have ceased on Dec 11, 2016, from using the surrogate country approach in antidumping investigations on China. This date was 15 years after China became an official member of the organization.

Under the surrogate country approach, WTO members use costs of production in a third country to calculate the value of products from countries on its “non-market economy” list, which includes China.

Lu said that if it honors the agreement soon, the EU will show the world its “commitment to promises and observance of rules”.

“In a time when protectionism is rearing its head in the world, the attitude major economies take over multilateral trade rules will eventually impose a fundamental influence on their own interests,” the spokesman said.

China should have gained market economy status automatically at the end of 2016 according to Article 15, Gabriel said at a news converence with Wang in Beijing.

Gabriel said Germany will work in the EU so that the EU trade remedy measures will focus not only on whether a target country has market economy status, but on whether the country has dumping practices or actions that violate WTO rules.

He said, “We shouldn’t discriminate against any country, including China”, adding that Germany’s position is clear, which is that new EU antidumping rules should comply with WTO rules.

Premier Li Keqiang will pay an official visit to Germany starting on Tuesday.