China demands EU abandon anti-dumping probe criteria

China has urged the EU to stop basing its anti-dumping investigations into Chinese goods on its "surrogate country system," under which costs of production in a third country are used to calculate the value of products from non-market economies.

"The surrogate country system should be abandoned by Dec. 11, 2016 under the agreement signed when China joined the World Trade Organization. It is an obligation to be delivered by all the WTO members," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said at a regular news briefing on Wednesday.

The issue has come to a head after the European Parliament said in a non-binding resolution last week that China failed to meet the five EU criteria defining a market economy, urging that Chinese exports be treated in a "non-standard way" so as to "ensure a level playing field for EU industry and defend EU jobs."

"China... firmly opposes the European move. The end of the surrogate country system, as required in the WTO agreement, has nothing to do with whether China meets the EU's criteria for a market economy," Hong said.

The definition of market economy status exists only in some WTO members' internal laws, rather than the WTO rules, so the EU standards for market economy status cannot serve as the prerequisite for delivering the WTO obligations, according to the spokesperson.

He said China hopes the EU "meets its obligation by the deadline to create conditions for bilateral friendly cooperation." Endi