Under World Trade Organization rules, domestic and foreign companies, in theory, are to be treated the same.
The E.U. is keen to ensure that even stiff European retaliation is fully justified under World Trade Organization rules.
The decision was deplored at the time by China, which charged that it was illegal under World Trade Organization rules.
Trade experts at the European Commission note that investment interests are not covered under World Trade Organization rules, so there is no plan to pursue a complaint there.
The problem, not easily solved in the overcrowded countryside, will intensify as China opens its markets under World Trade Organization rules.
But José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said last week that he thought an aid package for Detroit could be "illegal" under World Trade Organization rules.
Under World Trade Organization rules, the commission has until Friday to decide whether to impose retaliatory sanctions it is considering that would affect $300 million worth of American products.
In the new complaint, EU ProSun asked the commission to look into whether Chinese state banks and the central government offered support that was illegal under World Trade Organization rules.
But the European trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, set out a litany of European grievances on which he said China must make progress if it wanted that status before it automatically receives it in 2016 under World Trade Organization rules.
What is at stake in this argument is that under World Trade Organization rules, a nation must base a decision to bar imports of a product on scientific evidence.
For now, inequality is growing fast, and in the years ahead, as China further opens its markets under World Trade Organization rules, labor strife -- and questions from abroad about fair labor practices -- are likely to increase.
