Chong Quan, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said on Monday
that China firmly opposes a proposed EU assessment of Chinese
textile imports that may result in special restrictions being
placed on them.
The EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson announced on Sunday
that he had decided to ask the European Commission to authorize him
to launch investigations into nine categories of Chinese textile
imports to the EU, according to a statement released yesterday by
an EU delegation to China.
The European Commission complained that imports of these nine
categories increased greatly in the first quarter of this year, by
degrees ranging from 51 to 534 percent. The investigation is likely
to result in restrictions against imports of Chinese textiles in a
couple of months' time.
The EU issued a special guiding principle on Chinese textile
products on April 6, based on data for nine categories of
goods.
Chong said the EU had carried out a survey on goods before it
held that Chinese textile imports had exceeded a certain growth
margin, but that this was in violation of basic WTO policies and
relevant specifications in Section 242 of China's report on joining
the WTO.
He contended that there were not enough reasons to conduct the
investigation because the EU consisted of 15 member nations in the
first quarter of 2004, whereas in the first quarter of this year it
had 25 member nations so the figures were incomparable.
Chong also said that only the average price of ladies' blouses
had lowered while the prices for all other textile products rose to
some extent, and China had presented its formal comments on the
matter to the EU and hoped to carry out informal consultations with
it.
Both China and Europe should shoulder their responsibility for
maintaining trade stability, said Chong, voicing hope that the EU
would tackle the issue prudently, so as to avoid the negative
impact of a unilateral action.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily April 26, 2005)