China needs to master intl rules to solve trade disputes

Since China joined the WTO and integrated into the great circle of the global trade, China has not only enjoyed various benefits brought by the opening-up but also met severe challenges and pressures, including dealing with various trade disputes and frictions.

Learning and using WTO rules to better participate in the competition and pursuing a mutual-benefit situation by using bilateral and multilateral coordination systems are good strategies for China to deal with the trade disputes and frictions.

The WTO judged on June 8 that the United States' action of using the “returning to zero” method to calculate the dumping margin of the enterprises in its anti-dumping investigation on the warm-water shrimp and diamond saw blade imported from China does not accord with the rule of the TWO, and China won the case completely. It was China's another victory of solving the trade dispute by using TWO rules.

In the 10 years after China joined the TWO, a total of 690 anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and anti-special safeguard cases against China were launched, involving 40 billion U.S. dollars. Since the international financial crisis broke out in 2008, the global economic recovery has been slow and gloomy, the trade protectionism has been strengthening, and trade frictions have been increasing. In 2009, China met most trade frictions, including more than 100 cases with 12 billion U.S. dollars involved. Both numbers had doubled compared to those of 2008. In 2012, since economic situations of some countries keep gloomy and the trade protectionism is heating up, the trade frictions faced by China are also increasing.

Learning and using WTO rules to better participate in the competition and pursuing a mutual-benefit situation by using bilateral and multilateral coordination systems are good strategies for China to deal with the trade disputes and frictions. In past 10 years, Chinese enterprises has changed from daring not to respond to the lawsuit to being active to respond to it and from passively responding to the lawsuit to actively safeguarding their legal rights and interests by using legal channels.

Facing trade frictions, enterprises of Shenzhen have a lawsuit responding rate of 100 percent. In addition, China also has launched about 190 anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and anti-special safeguard cases, which have effectively protected Chinese enterprises' legal rights and interests.