China's Ministry of Commerce announced Wednesday that totally 51 countries have declared recognition of China's full market economy status since New Zealand did so in April 2004, Beijing-based Jinghua Time reports.

An official said that last year, 13 countries have acknowledged China as a full market economy. Included are the Republic of Korea (ROK), Australia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus and Iceland.

In November 2005, ROK became the first country that recognized China's full market economy that year, among those sharing US$100 billion trade volume or above with China.

In addition, quite a number of national enterprises won market economy status in anti-dumping investigations. The number of such enterprises involved in anti-dumping investigations by the European Union (EU) has topped 70.

By People's Daily Online