The European Union (EU) is considering whether to grant China market economy status, a senior official from the European Commission (EC), said yesterday.

"The European Commission is still analyzing the new information received from the Chinese side," Gunter Verheuger, vice-president of the EC in charge of enterprises and industry told a press conference in Beijing.

"We do not have a policy to prevent China from becoming a market economy (We hope) to come to a solution as soon as we can," he said.

Although China was not granted market economy status by the member nations of the World Trade Organization when it joined in 2001, 69 countries, including Iceland and Norway, have subsequently done so. However, top trade partners, including the United States and the EU, have not.

The lack of market economy status has hurt Chinese businesses, which have been hit with "dumping charges" by some countries.

Verheuge said that granting market economy status was a process that followed a standard line in the EU.

"There are criteria that must be met," he said.

He suggested that China do more to reduce export subsides and enforce laws on property rights, bankruptcy and the financial markets.

During his four-day visit, which began on Sunday, Verheuger met senior officials, including Jia Qinglin, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, as well as officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Construction, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. Discussions were held on Sino-EU relations covering a wide range of issues.

"I wanted to strengthen and improve the communication between the EU and China on topics that are important for both sides," the vice-president said.

The meeting with Chinese officials wa s "very useful" in making the respective concerns in the negotiation for the partnership agreement clear, he said.

China and the EU have also been jointly working since January on a new partnership and cooperation agreement to strengthen all-round relations between the two sides.

Verheuger said he saw China's dazzling development as an opportunity rather than a threat, and he believed the two sides could work together on various sectors, such as energy and climate change.

(China Daily 04/04/2007 page3)