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The
Office of the US Trade Representative has
declared in its Congress that while stated
Chinese policies appear to "fully embrace
the rule of law" and share a direction
and focus that is encouraging.
Despite
these auspicious signs, US officials worry
about policies and practices that "continued
to generate significant concerns among US
stakeholders in 2014."
For
example, the report states that the mainland
Chinese government's provision of preferences
and financial support to state-owned enterprises
and domestic national champions continued
to skew the commercial playing field in
many sectors, both in the mainland Chinese
market and abroad.
Other
major areas of concern include serious problems
with intellectual property rights enforcement,
including in the area of trade secrets,
indigenous innovation policies, technology
transfer initiatives, export restraints
and state subsidies.
The
USTR also expressed concern over the development
of unique national standards, investment
restrictions, troubling agricultural policies
directly blocking US market access and inappropriate
use of anti-monopoly and trade remedy laws.
Another
concern was general transparency and mainland
China's slow movement toward accession to
the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.
The
report also indicated that a series of developments
in 2013 seemed to confirm a re-focusing
of mainland China's energies and a high-level
determination to accelerate needed economic
reform.
If
realised, said the report, it would provide
"tremendous benefits" to both
mainland China and its trading partners.
USTR
said that while the important and far-reaching
economic reform pronouncements endorsed
in November 2013 by the Third Plenum of
the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party "have yet to be fully
translated into actions that would significantly
change China's trade regime, much of the
broad policy direction that they potentially
indicate is encouraging."
The
report also highlights the mainland's commitment
to negotiate a high-standard bilateral investment
agreement with the US as well as the establishment
of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone as a pilot
project for significant trade and investment
liberalisation and financial reform.
Looking
ahead, the report indicates that the US
will look to the mainland to reduce market
access barriers and uniformly follow the
fundamental principles of non-discrimination
and transparency.
This,
said the report, would significantly reduce
the level of government intervention in
the economy, fully institutionalise market
mechanisms, require state-owned enterprises
to compete with other enterprises on fair
and non-discriminatory terms.
USTR
said these steps are critical to realising
the tremendous potential presented by mainland
China's WTO membership, "including
the breadth and depth of trade and investment
?and prosperity ?possible in a thriving,
balanced global trading system."
The
report also said China's new leaders "seem
to have embraced many elements of this approach,
and the United States will continue to work
with China going forward to help make it
a reality."
In
general, the United States is expected to
continue to rely extensively on bilateral
economic dialogues such as the Joint Commission
on Commerce and Trade and the Strategic
and Economic Dialogue in an effort to resolve
trade and economic disagreements with mainland
China in friendly and collaborative fashion.
At
the same time, the US will pursue trade
enforcement measures both domestically and
at the WTO in instances where sufficient
progress is not achieved on critical issues,
the report said.
Regarding
the recent US-China Joint Commission on
Commerce and Trade meeting in Chicago. Americans
felt they had made some yards in the agriculture
market access.
During
the talks China also agreed that "under
normal circumstances" a foreign company
implicated in an anti-monopoly law investigation
would be permitted to have a lawyer present
and be able to consult him during legal
proceedings.
Chinese
authorities also made several additional
commitments, including to treat domestic
and foreign companies equally and to provide
increased transparency for companies under
investigation.
China
also announced that it would approve the
importation of new biotechnology varieties
of US soybeans and corn and pursue a regular
dialogue with the United States on the benefits
of the increased use of innovative technologies
in agriculture.
China
also agreed to intellectual property protections,
agreeing to take specific steps to protect
companies' trade secrets, work on a new
trade secrets law to further enhance protections.
On
innovation policies, China agreed to streamline
its regulatory processes and cut red tape
for imports of new, innovative pharmaceuticals
and medical devices.
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