Article 15 Of China's Accession To The World Trade Organization

In 11 December 2016,article 15 of China's accession protocol expires,whether or not to recognize China's market economy status was referred to in the teeth of the storm.On 12 May,the European Parliament made a non-legislative documents,announced that they refused to recognize market economy status to China and the EU has proposed to amend their basic law to use a new cost adjustment method in response to the expiration of article 15(a)(II)of Chinese Accession Protocol,so that they can still apply the " surrogate country " method to determine normal value after the deadline.Japan also explicitly refused to recognize the China's market economy status.Other western countries have no clear position towards the deadline,but according to current situation and their consistent policy towards China,It is unlikely for them to recognize China's market economy status.The interpretation of is one of the core problems of this issue.Since O'Connor proposed that 15(a)(II)does not mean that China can automatically obtain the market economy status,the different interpretations of Article 15 and the debate concerning its relationship with Chinese market economy status never end.To correctly understand the meaning of the relevant provisions of the 15,it is necessary to set aside any factors legal factors,strictly accord with the interpretation of the Vienna Convention on the law of treaties,and ensure the interpretation of this article is fair and objective.Cannot give up the outcome only because of the conclusions are not consistent with expectations and seek their own outcome..At the same time,scholars in the past mostly focus only on the 15(d)and 15(a)which are closely related to Chinese market economy status but ignored the rest part of this article and cause paradox result.From the theory of "non-market economy status" and the practice of various countries,it has deviated from the original intention of this system.National laws set different standards to market economy,most of them seems specific but in fact very flexible,giving countries too much discretion.The United States granted market economy status to Russia but the refused to recognize China's market economy status reflect the US abuses the right.It is inevitable that countries will base on their own interests and abuse these standards if they are allowed to set standards.Western countries today tend to use "non market economy" as trade protectionism shields.China can resort to WTO dispute settlement mechanism,and in the meantime promote the WTO to perfect this system,especially to make detailed of "graduation clause".