Photo taken on Nov. 1, 2015 show steel pipes at the Lianyungang Port in E China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo/Xinhua)
The latest U.S. attempt to prevent the European Union (EU) from granting market economy status to China is doomed to failure as the China-EU ties are becoming ever stronger.
It is reported that Washington has warned the EU against granting China market economy status, alleging the move could hamper efforts to prevent Chinese companies from flooding U.S. and European markets with unfairly cheap goods.
The unwelcome voice is a vivid demonstration of the U.S. habitual meddling in other country's internal affairs, reflecting a hegemonic mentality that goes against the win-win results that China and the EU have sought for, especially in the past years.
Currently, China is not regarded by the EU as a full market economy, which prompted countries to always pick data from a "surrogate" state with a recognized market economy in dealing with their disputes that triggered dumping accusations against China.
The unfair and discriminatory practice against China has allowed foreign governments to levy unreasonably high anti-dumping duties on Chinese companies.
However, such a practice should be terminated by December 2016, according to China's WTO Accession Protocol signed in 2001.
China, as a WTO member which has been seriously fulfilling its legal WTO obligations, should no doubt enjoy the rights granted by global trade body.
As a matter of fact, since its entry into the WTO, China has been committed to market-oriented economic system reform, and fought for the global acknowledgement of its market economy status.
So far, over 80 countries in the world have recognized China's status as a market economy, and the Chinese yuan has been included into the Special Drawing Rights basket of the International Monetary Fund as an international reserve currency, in a strong show of international endorsement of China's market economy reform.
In that sense, it is hard to continue to see China as a non-market economy country.
The United States, driven by a hegemonic mindset, appears aggressive in placing obstacles for China's development, and feels reluctant to remove them when they become obsolete.
But for the European side, competition with China over global influence has never been their top priority -- win-win results are more in their common interests.
It is also noteworthy that European countries have been positive in developing their ties with China as they have seen an enhanced China-Europe cooperation as their own opportunities to achieve economic recovery, the most urgent need for the entire continent since the outbreak of the financial crisis years ago.
Good news is that an early recognition of China's market economy status is a mainstream across the continent, with the support of major European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her British counterpart, George Osborne.
For Washington, it is time to realize that its narrow-minded prejudice against China will bring no benefits to any party, except the embarrassment to see its own attempt doomed to end in failure.
