The European Union has refused China market economy status after almost a year of preliminary assessments. China submitted its request last June, providing follow-up information in September and again earlier this year.

The EU executive commission said their findings only concerned trade defense investigations, covering anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases. They identified four broad areas for improvement, namely strong state influence, non-standardized corporate governance, the lack of property and bankruptcy laws and the long-restricted financial sector.

The commission added that their assessment is not an overall judgment on the state of development of the Chinese economy, but a technical analysis linked exclusively to the determination of companies' costs and prices in trade defense investigations.

(CCTV.com June 29, 2004)