Merkel: EU to fulfill obligations on China's accession to WTO

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said here Thursday that the European Union (EU) will fulfill its obligations under Article 15 of the Protocol on China's Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang holds talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during an annual meeting between the heads of the two countries' governments in Berlin, capital of Germany, May 31, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua/Rao Aimin]

She made the remarks at a joint press conference with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who is paying an official visit to the European country.

The EU supports the WTO obligations and is committed to seeking solutions in line with the rules, Merkel said, pledging that the 28-nation bloc will offer equal treatments to Chinese enterprises.

For his part, Li said China welcomes the EU's implementation of the obligations under Article 15 and hopes that all sides abide by the current international economic and political order in face of global uncertainties.

According to Article 15, WTO member nations should have stopped using the surrogate country approach to conduct anti-dumping investigations on China by Dec. 11, 2016.

However, in a new methodology proposed last November on the EU's anti-dumping and anti-subsidy calculations, the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, while scrapping the "non-market economy" list, replaced the approach with "market distortion," which many observers say remain a surrogate method.

The Chinese premier is on a two-day official visit to Germany for the annual meeting of the two countries' heads of government, a mechanism that has been in place since 2004.

Germany is the first leg of Li's ongoing three-day Europe tour, which will also take him to Belgium.

In Brussels, the Chinese premier will co-chair the 19th China-EU leaders' meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and pay an official visit to Belgium.