BIZCHINA> Review & Analysis
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BIZCHINA> Review & Analysis
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Take it easy on China
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-08 10:22 Peter Mandelson is in town again. Less than two weeks after the European Union (EU) released its latest policy paper on China-EU relationship - much of it devoted to trade relations - its trade commissioner landed in Beijing to talk with Chinese officials about bilateral trade. A main theme of his trip is to ask China to open its market wider to European companies. The EU's argument for China opening the market wider, like that of some other trade partners of China, is based on its trade deficit with China. However, it is highly likely that even Mandelson himself, who personally is against protectionism, would not buy this argument. In fact, the EU, in its latest report about its trade relations with China, also admits that China's phenomenal performance in international trade comes mainly from its fundamental economic strength; that China's trade surplus is partly a result of Asian economic integration; and that European consumers greatly benefit from China's inexpensive goods. As always, anyone who tries to press a trading nation for a wider market opening simply for the trading nation's surplus is just supplanting good economic judgment with the Philistine concept of reciprocation. For China, the imperative remains to implement its commitments made five years ago for entry into the WTO. It is a consensus that in general, China deserves a high score for fulfilling what it promised within the WTO. Any new market-opening demand should be discussed within the framework of the Doha Round. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
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