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Washington has warned Brussels against granting China ‘market economy status’, saying the long-sought trade concession could hamper efforts to prevent Chinese companies flooding US and European markets with unfairly cheap goods.
華盛頓警告布魯塞爾不要給予中國“市場經濟地位”(MES)，稱中方長期尋求的這一貿易優惠待遇可能妨礙阻止中國企業在美歐市場傾銷廉價得不公平的商品的努力。
Achieving market economy status (MES) at the World Trade Organisation is one of China’s core strategic goals. Among other benefits, it would make it far more difficult for the US or EU to impose steep tariffs on Chinese companies for unfairly dumping low-cost goods on their markets.
在世界貿易組織(WTO)取得市場經濟地位是中國的核心戰略目標之一。其好處包括，它將顯著加大美國或歐盟針對在其市場不公平傾銷廉價商品的中國企業開征高額關稅的難度。
US officials have warned EU counterparts that granting Beijing MES would amount to “unilaterally disarming” Europe’s trade defences against China. In private, they are scathing about the move, which they see as the latest example of Europeans seeking to curry favour with Beijing to gain billions of euros in investment.
美國官員警告歐盟同行稱，給予中國市場經濟地位無異于“單方面解除”歐洲對中國的貿易防御。私底下，美國官員嚴厲批評此舉，在他們眼里，這是歐洲人為了獲得巨額投資而試圖討好北京方面的最新例證。
But the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is growing increasingly sympathetic to China’s pleas. The commission is expected to make its decision as early as February.
但是，歐盟執行機構——歐盟委員會(European Commission)正越來越傾向于支持中國的訴求。該機構預計最早在明年2月就會做出決定。
German chancellor Angela Merkel is supportive of the idea while George Osborne, the UK chancellor who has spearheaded Britain’s courtship of Beijing, is a firm advocate.
德國總理安格拉默克爾(Angela Merkel)支持給予中國市場經濟地位，而力主英國迎合中國的英國財相喬治攠斯本(George Osborne)也堅定地支持這樣做。
Other European governments, led by Italy, and a growing swell of European labour unions and traditional industries — including steel, ceramics and textiles — are strongly opposed. Partly at their prompting, senior US trade officials have repeatedly raised their concerns with their European counterparts in recent months.
以意大利為首的歐洲其他國家政府，以及越來越多的歐洲工會和傳統產業（包括鋼鐵、陶瓷和紡織品）都強烈反對。部分在他們的敦促下，美國高級貿易官員近月來一再向歐洲同行表達自己的關切。
The debate centres on a dispute over the terms of China’s agreement of accession to the World Trade Organisation in 2001. Beijing has long interpreted the accord to mean that it would automatically be designated a market economy at the end of 2016.
這場辯論的焦點是如何解釋2001年中國加入世貿組織的條款。北京方面長期以來的解讀是，當時的協議意味著它將在2016年底自動取得市場經濟地位。
But many trade lawyers disagree with this reading of the rules. Opponents argue that Beijing’s hand in setting prices, providing subsidies to an array of industries and other statist policies should disqualify it from MES.
但是，許多貿易律師不同意這種解讀。反對者主張，北京方面插手價格制定，向多個行業提供補貼，以及施行其他計劃經濟式政策，應該使其沒有資格獲得市場經濟地位。
“China was accepted into the WTO almost 15 years ago on an expectation that it would now be a market economy. It is not and it would be wrong to treat it as such when it meets so few of the criteria,” said David Martin, a British Labour member of the European Parliament, which would have to support any commission proposal for MES.
“中國在近15年前被世貿組織接納時，各方的期望是到了現在它將轉型為市場經濟。它不是，在它達到這么少標準的情況下給予它市場經濟地位將是錯誤的，”歐洲議會(European Parliament)的英國工黨成員戴維氠丁(David Martin)表示。歐盟委員會給予中國市場經濟地位的提案將必須獲得歐洲議會的支持。
The EU’s deliberations come at a particularly sensitive moment for Europe’s steel industry, which has lost a fifth of it workforce since 2009 and blames many of its woes on unfairly cheap Chinese imports.
歐盟的討論發生在一個對歐洲鋼鐵行業特別敏感的時刻，自2009年以來失去了五分之一勞動力的該行業，把它的很多困境歸咎于廉價得不公平的中國進口產品。
At the same time, the commission is keen to repair trade relations with China after a string of acrimonious disputes in recent years. It is seeking big Chinese investments in a 300bn infrastructure fund designed to rekindle flagging growth in Europe.
與此同時，在近年發生了一系列激烈糾紛后，歐盟委員會眼下熱衷于修復與中國的貿易關系。它正在爭取中方對一只3000億歐元基礎設施基金大筆投資，該基金旨在提振歐洲乏力的經濟增長。
The commission declined to comment on its decision, which officials say is still under consideration. However, diplomats and businessmen involved in the process say momentum is building for a positive decision on MES in the first quarter of 2016.
歐盟委員會拒絕就其決定置評，官員們表示該機構仍在考慮。然而，參與這個過程的外交官和商界人士表示，目前正在形成的勢頭意味著，該委員會在2016年第一季度很有可能做出同意給予中國市場經濟地位的決定。
“Brussels’ attitude towards China is better than Washington’s,” said Tu Xinquan, a trade expert at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. “Of course, EU industries won’t welcome market economy status for China. But I think it’s quite likely to be granted.”
“布魯塞爾對中國的態度比華盛頓更好，”對外經濟貿易大學(University of International Business and Economics)的貿易專家屠新泉表示，“當然，歐盟的產業界不會歡迎給予中國市場經濟地位。但我認為中國很有希望被授予這種地位。”
Under WTO rules, China’s non-market economy status gives the US and EU far greater latitude in determining the fair cost of production for Chinese companies when conducting anti-dumping investigations. As a consequence, say trade lawyers, that has made it easier for complainants to prove their cases against China.
按照世貿組織規則，中國的非市場經濟地位使美國和歐盟在展開反傾銷調查時，在確定中國企業的公允生產成本方面擁有大得多的自由度。貿易律師們表示，其后果之一是，投訴方更容易證明其針對中國的投訴成立。
The Obama administration, which is being cheered on by US industry, is advocating a policy of inaction, which would force China to bring a challenge in the WTO and thus put the onus on Beijing to prove that its state-heavy economic model has met all the criteria for MES.
在美國工業界的歡呼下，奧巴馬政府正在倡導不作為的政策，那將迫使中國在世貿組織發起挑戰，從而使北京方面承擔舉證責任，要證明政府干預相當嚴重的中國經濟模式滿足了市場經濟地位的所有標準。
