Q: According to the information on the website of the foreign minstry, when holding talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on May 24, German Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said obligations under Article 15 of the Protocol on China's Accession to the WTO should be fulfilled, and the revision of relevant EU laws should not discriminate against any country and must accord with WTO regulations. What is China's comment?
A: This shows the responsible attitude of the German government and the Chinese government appreciates it.
China has always closely followed the implementation of Article 15 of the Protocol on China's Accession to the WTO. The article is a "sunset clause", according to which the WTO members should have stopped using the surrogate country approach to conduct anti-dumping investigations on China by 11 December 2016. With the rise of protectionism, the attitude towards multilateral trade rules taken by major world economies will fundamentally bears on their own interests at the end. By an early implementation of the article, the EU will not only present itself as someone that honors its commitments and abides by rules, but also send a positive message of the EU joining China in upholding the open and free multilateral trading system. China hopes the EU can fully fulfill the obligations under Article 15 in its entirety as soon as possible and wishes to see Germany continuously exert its influence.