With New Zealand's recognition of China's market economy status, Chinese trade officials and business-people feel a little freed -- worries on trade discrimination were eased and hopes for a more free and fair trade were sparked.

China and New Zealand announced Wednesday that the two sides have agreed on a formal Trade and Economic Cooperation Framework, involving an initiation of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiation next year.

As a necessary component and precondition of the FTA talks, which is also China's first one with a developed country, New Zealand will recognize that China has established a market economic system.

"That's absolutely a breakthrough," said Zhang Xiaoji, a senior researcher with the Development Research Center, the Chinese cabinet's think-tank.

China, which has undergone more than two decades of reform and opening-up, has transformed its once planned economy into a market-oriented one. But some, including the United States and the European Union, do not admit such fact yet.

The non-market economy status imposed on China caused lot of trade discrimination on Chinese exports, especially in many anti-dumping cases.

In those cases, investigators will find a so-called "surrogate" country, such as India, to calculate the products' cost, which is often higher that in China.

Such investigations will then conclude that Chinese products were sold at a price lower than its cost and the dumping did exist.

Some countries make use of the non-market economy status to forge trade barriers on imports from China and Chinese manufactures have very little say.

New Zealand's recognition of China as a market economy "is the objective recognition of China's tremendous achievements in reformand opening-up," said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

The Chinese government highly appreciates New Zealand's effortsto push forward bilateral economic and trade ties, Wen said.

"The recognition is an example and other countries should follow," said Li Yushi, deputy director of the Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a ministry think-tank, noting that will not only benefit China but also accelerate mutual trade.

The China-New Zealand FTA talks is one of the fruits, Li said.

"The government believes that a FTA with China would unlock significant trade and investment potential for both countries," said New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and Minister for Trade Negotiations Jim Sutton in a joint statement.

China is the world's fastest growing major economy and New Zealand's fourth largest trading partner. "New Zealand exports to China have more than doubled in the past six years," the officialsnoted in the statement.

China's soaring economy, with a 9.1 percent growth last year and 9.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, offered lots of business opportunities for the business circles in New Zealand andother parts of the world as well.

"However, there is still a long way to go to acquire the market economy status from all countries," Li said.