China urges US to stop using surrogate country approach

China has urged the US, once again, to fully comply with the obligations under Article 15 of the Protocol on China's accession to the World Trade Organization in a timely manner, said the Ministry of Commerce on Friday.

The US Department of Commerce said on Nov 23 that the time was not yet ripe for the country to reconsider whether to grant China market economy status. "At this moment it is not ripe for us to change our protocol," said US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.

The US should not "confuse the issue," Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said at a news conference on Friday in Beijing.