| EU not ready to grant China market status(Agencies)
 Updated: 2005-07-14 06:58
 
 Nevertheless, Barroso will face a number of tricky issues in Beijing, 
including EU nations' failure to agree on lifting a 15-year arms embargo on 
China, surges in Chinese footwear imports and long-standing human rights 
concerns. 
 Australia granted China market status in April, but many of Beijing's other 
trading partners have held back because of concerns that Chinese authorities 
still interfere too much in business. 
 London's Financial Times last week quoted Ian Pearson, Britain's minister of 
state for trade, as saying his government was talking with its EU partners on 
the subject. "We in Britain believe China should be granted market economy 
status," he was quoted as saying during a visit to China. 
 The market label is a prized commodity. Among other benefits, it allows 
countries to provide their own evidence when they are accused of price-fixing on 
the international export market. 
 As world trade opens up, such accusations are becoming a favorite way of 
erecting alternative trade barriers. 
 During Barroso's five-day visit, he planned to meet President Hu Jintao and 
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Beijing, and to travel also to Hong Kong and Macao. 
 
 
 
 
  
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