美国被指破坏世贸组织公正性

The US has been accused of being a bully and undermining the World Trade Organisation’s dispute system after vetoing the reappointment of a South Korean judge. The EU and legal scholars have warned that the veto threatens the impartiality of the global trade court.

美国被指以大欺小和破坏世界贸易组织(WTO)的争端解决机制，因为美国否决了一名韩国裁判官的连任。欧盟和法律学者都警告称，此举威胁到全球贸易法庭的公正性。

US opposition comes at a time when many believe Washington has been losing faith in the WTO and is preparing for a big fight with China over how and when economies can deploy anti-dumping defences against cheap imports.

美方表态反对之际，很多人相信美国对WTO失去了信心，并准备在各经济体如何以及何时部署针对廉价进口商品的反倾销防御措施方面，与中国好好较量一番。

The US told fellow WTO members last week that it could not support the reappointment of Seung Wha Chang, a respected South Korean expert in international trade law whose four-year term on the seven-member resident appellate body ends on Tuesday.

美国上周通知WTO其他成员国，它不能支持重新任命韩国籍的张胜和(Seung Wha Chang)。张是一名受尊敬的国际贸易法专家，他在由七名裁判官组成的常设上诉机构的四年任期在周二结束。

Washington cited the body’s decisions in three cases involving the US and one other as examples of what it said was a pattern of WTO panels overreaching and issuing “abstract” decisions.

华盛顿方面以该机构对三起涉及美国的案件和另一起案件的裁决为例，称WTO专家组存在越权和发布“抽象”裁决的模式。

“The appellate body is not an academic body that may pursue issues simply because they are of interest to them or may be to certain members in the abstract,” the US told WTO members. “It is not the role of the appellate body to engage in abstract discussions.”

“这个上诉机构并不是一个学术组织，可以追求自己或者某些成员国在理论层面可能感兴趣的任何课题，”美国对WTO成员国表示。“从事抽象讨论不是该上诉机构的职责。”

But other WTO members, including Brazil, Japan and the EU, say the US objection to Mr Chang serving a second four-year term, as is customary, risks undermining the appellate body and its independence and therefore the entire dispute system.

但是，巴西、日本和欧盟等WTO其它成员国表示，美国反对张胜和按照惯例担任第二个四年任期，可能削弱该上诉机构及其独立性，因而不利于整个争端解决机制。

That is of particular concern because the WTO’s role in resolving trade disputes is widely seen as a great strength of the intergovernmental organisation, which was created in 1995 as a successor to the post-second world war General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

这件事值得特别关注，因为WTO在解决贸易争端方面的作用被广泛视为这个政府间组织的一大强项；创立于1995年的该组织是二战后出炉的《关税及贸易总协定》(GATT)的继任者。

“This is unprecedented and poses a very serious threat to the independence and impartiality of current and future appellate body members,” the EU told a meeting of the governing body for the WTO’s dispute settlement system last week.

“这是前所未有的举动，对当前乃至未来的上诉机构成员的独立性和公正性构成非常严重的威胁”，欧盟上周在WTO争端解决机制管理机构的一个会议上表示。

In an interview, Roberto Azevêdo, the WTO’s director-general, declined to comment on the US objection to Mr Chang’s reappointment. “They have their concerns, which they made very explicitly,” he said.

WTO总干事罗伯托•阿泽维多(Roberto Azevêdo，见上图)在一次采访中拒绝就美国反对张胜和连任一事进行置评。“他们有他们的顾虑，他们作了很明确的表述，”他说。

But he admitted the reappointment of panellists was a sensitive issue and raised the possibility of members changing the way judges are selected and their term limits. Some at the WTO have proposed that members of the appellate body serve a single seven-year term.

但他承认小组成员的连任是一个敏感问题，并提出成员国改变裁判官遴选方式及其任期限制的可能性。WTO的一些人士提议上诉机构裁判官担任一个七年任期。

The US intervention comes ahead of what is likely to be an important period for the appellate body. Among the issues it is expected to decide are whether China is entitled to “market economy” status within the WTO, an important designation that would help Beijing fight back against anti-dumping cases, such as those being mounted against Chinese steel imports on both sides of the Atlantic.

美国进行干预之际，这个上诉机构很可能将要迎来一段重要时期。预计它要裁决的问题将包括中国是否有资格在WTO内部获得“市场经济地位”，这将是一个重要的称号，它将有助于北京方面反击反倾销案件，比如大西洋两岸针对进口中国钢材发起的反倾销行动。

Beijing claims it should be awarded the status automatically in December, the 15th anniversary of the country joining the WTO. The US and some opponents in Europe insist that the text of China’s accession agreement is more ambiguous and that eventually the issue will have to be decided by the appellate body.

北京方面声称，它应该在今年12月，即中国加入WTO的15周年之际，自动获得市场经济地位。欧洲的一些反对者和美国坚持认为，中国入世协议的措辞较为模糊，这个问题最终将不得不提交上诉机构裁决。

Such a dispute would be among the most consequential the WTO has confronted since China joined the WTO in 2001. It might also be one of its most political.

这样的争执将是自2001年中国加入WTO以来，WTO遭遇的最重大纠纷之一。它也可能是WTO面对的最具政治色彩的纠纷之一。

Because of a collapse in steel prices blamed on Chinese overcapacity and the shuttering of competing mills around the world, the issue of China’s market economy status has become politically sensitive around the world, particularly in Europe.

由于钢材价格崩盘被归咎于中国的产能过剩，加上世界各地钢厂纷纷关门，中国的市场经济地位问题在世界各地变得具有政治敏感性，特别是在欧洲。

Greg Shaffer, an expert in WTO law at the University of California Irvine, said the US’s opposition to the reappointment of Mr Chang risked injecting politics into what ought to be a purely legal process.

美国加州大学欧文分校(University of California Irvine)的WTO法律专家格雷格•谢弗(Greg Shaffer)表示，美国反对张胜和连任的风险在于，此举可能给一个理应纯粹的法律过程注入政治因素。

It also, he said, was “making the US look like a bully, and not an upholder of rule of law principles”.

他说，此举还“使美国看起来像一个欺凌者，而不是法治原则的维护者”。

“The US response and example will have ripple effects around the world,” Prof Shaffer said. “Undermining the independence of the WTO appellate body will affect the entire rules-based system to resolve trade disputes.”

“美国的回应和案例将在世界各地产生涟漪效应，”谢弗教授表示。“削弱WTO上诉机构的独立性，将影响整个基于规则解决贸易争端的体制。”