File photo taken on April 4, 2018 shows the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (Photo: Xinhua)

China has halted a dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) with the EU over anti-dumping, which is not relevant to China's market economy status, said the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Saturday. 

The MOFCOM said that some reports claiming "China lost the WTO dispute case with the EU" are inconsistent with the facts and contain legal errors.

After termination of the proceedings at the WTO of the disputed case, there is no effective ruling by the WTO, therefore there is no winner or loser. The termination will neither affect China's position on the dispute nor impair China's rights under the WTO rules, according to the MOFCOM. 

China's position is clear on Section 15 of China's Accession Protocol entitled "Price Comparability in Determining Subsidies and Dumping," said the ministry.

"China's withdrawal of the suit represents a settlement of the calculation standard of prices in anti-dumping cases with the EU. The dispute is about an international legal case, and there is no need to spin the case politically," an analyst told the Global Times on Sunday on condition of anonymity.

The dispute was initiated in 2016, and China halted the dispute at the WTO in June. 

"The point of dispute between China and the EU was the price calculation standard in trade, which is a technical issue and has nothing to do with market economy status," Pang Chaoran, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The WTO does not have a definition or criterion for "market economy" or "market economy status", nor does it have a mandate to determine the "market economy status" of any WTO member, the ministry said, adding that confusing the case with the issues of "market economy states" and "market economy status" is misreading WTO rules.

"The WTO deals with dozens of anti-dumping disputes every year. The China-EU case is just an ordinary anti-dumping case," said Pang.

The MOFCOM also urged unity in the WTO to protect multilateral trade system, especially amid the spreading coronavirus pandemic and rising trade protectionism in the world. 

As a WTO member, China firmly supports the multilateral trading regime, and looks forward to strengthening cooperation with all partners to jointly uphold the rules-based multilateral trading system, the ministry stated.