EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson called on China to open its markets wider to foreign competition and become more proactive in free trade talks, the <i>Wall Street Journal</i> reported. Speaking at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Mandelson said: "China is now in a position not only to accept new responsibility in key policy areas, but also to show strong leadership in the WTO and the open global trading system." Mandelson argued that, although China is ahead of other developing countries in terms of market-opening, the fact it is poised to become the world's largest exporter means it should be setting itself higher targets. In a report published in October, the EU claimed that European companies compete on "unfair terms" in China due to poor legal protection and obstructive trade policies.
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