US Move Threatens Free Trade

Posted by AsiaViews | Dec 10, 2017 | 0 |

China Daily

2 Dec 2017

The legal brief the United States filed with the World Trade Organization on Thursday to oppose the designation of China as a market economy risks derailing Sino-US economic relations and reflects Washington’s unwillingness to respect free trade and globalization.

The US’ move, as a third party in a case China has brought against the European Union, will help it impose anti-dumping duties on imported Chinese products, which could cause losses worth billions of dollars to Chinese enterprises.

On Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce initiated anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duty investigations into Chinese aluminum products without requests by US companies, which is rare.

Not happy with only raising the barriers to free trade, the US has now initiated a move to deny China market economy status so that it can continue using the surrogate country approach to evaluate the costs of imported Chinese products. As production cost is often much higher in a third country than in China, the US, when deciding the price of Chinese products in anti-dumping cases, will find it technically much easier to accuse China of dumping in the US market.

However, according to Article 15 of the Protocol on China’s Accession to the WTO, which all WTO members including the US agreed, WTO members should have stopped using the surrogate country approach to investigate anti-dumping cases against China by Dec 11, 2016.

Perhaps the US is violating its own pledge in order to solve some of its economic problems, especially its colossal trade deficits. But it cannot do so by targeting Chinese products, because goods from other countries with low production costs will replace them.

Worse, the US move could jeopardize bilateral trade ties. Sino-US economic relations have progressed relatively well in recent years. The two sides have also established various economic dialogue mechanisms to bridge their differences, and exports of some US products, such as beef, to China have increased thanks to the trade-rebalancing 100-day action plan.

But if the US continues using its one-sided trade policies, it could derail the result-oriented bilateral economic relationship, which will serve neither side’s interest.

(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201712/02/WS5a27668da3107865316d32fe.html)

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

US Move Threatens Free Trade