Brussels, 12/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - China is losing patience over both the maintenance of the European embargo on arms sales and the slowness of the EU to grant it market economy status.
Two days after the 3rd session of the EU-China Strategic Dialogue, which bore all the appearances of having been a fruitful meeting, with both parties pledging to enhance cooperation on international issues and to hold a dialogue on defence and security, the comments to the media of a Chinese government official come as a bit of a let down on Thursday 12 July. Maintenance of the EU embargo on the sale of arms, imposed after the crack-down on democracy demonstrators in June 1989, which Beijing has been trying to have lifted for many years, and the EU's slowness in granting China the market economy status it has been seeking for every bit as long - a status which would put it out of reach of EU anti-dumping action against its products - are “an embodiment of the discrimination against China by the European side”, Hua Chunying, a foreign ministry councillor handling European affairs, said in comments report by AFP on Thursday. “The two issues reflect a lack of trust by the European side”, she added, going on: “If the European side can take a small step forward in solving these two issues, then we can make a major step forward in enhancing mutual trust”.
After becoming a member of the WTO in 2001, China can only earn the market economy status it so covets in 2016. While it satisfies at least two of the five criteria for obtaining this status - replacing barter with more modern means of payment and accounting standards - China must, nonetheless, still make progress on applying intellectual property rules, pricing, which in a number of key sectors remains under state control, and the independence of the financial sector. (EH/transl.rt)