The EU should grant China market economy status, UK's Financial Times cited Ian Pearson, Britain's minister of state for trade.

The UK has taken over the rotating EU presidency as of July 1st. "We in Britain believe China should be granted market economy status. We are talking to our partners in the EU about this at the moment," Pearson told the Financial Times.

Pearson said the EU has granted market economy status to Russia, and China should get the recognition too.

The newspaper said a market economy status is of paramount importance for China because Chinese products are the targets of most American and European anti-dumping measures. The EU currently has 49 anti-dumping cases against China. It will be harder for the EU to impose anti-dumping penalties on Chinese exports should China be granted the market economy status.

Not recognizing China as a market economy, the US and EU often compare Chinese products' prices with a third country's when taking anti-dumping measures against Chinese products, making Chinese products subject to unfair treatment.

By People's Daily Online