China strongly objects to the European Union's recent guidelines
for restrictions on imports of Chinese textile goods, Ministry of
Commerce (MOFCOM) spokesman
Chong Quan said on Thursday.
He warned that the EU action would create "new unstable factors"
for China-EU textile trade and have a negative impact on the global
textile trade.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, issued special
guidelines on textile and clothing imports from China on
Wednesday.
The guidelines establish "alert zones" for each category of
Chinese textile imports, allowing for increases in China's current
market share. If the alert zones are reached, the EC can
investigate.
The guidelines also create some subjective conditions for the EC
to invoke what the Commission calls "safeguard actions." Chong said
this violates "the spirit of free trade that is always promoted by
the EU and seriously violates conditions delineated in legal
documents for China's WTO admission."
Chong said that China and the EU share common interests and
complementary advantages in the textile trade and that such
unilateral action against the integration process undermines their
common interests. The country hopes for resolution of the issue
through dialogue.
China has adopted measures targeting stability in textile
integration. Chong asked the EU to understand fully the efforts
China has made and handle the issue with care.
Chong had similar words for the US on its possible sanctions on
Chinese textiles, asking the country to recognize the huge negative
impact of special restrictions on textile goods and to be prudent
and responsible in considering such restrictions and conducting
investigations.
The US announced Monday that it will launch a special
restrictive measures investigation on cotton trousers, cotton knit
shirts and cotton or manmade fabric underwear imported from China.
The decision was made without application from US manufacturers and
based on preliminary figures.
Chong said that would send a wrong signal to US manufacturers
and set a bad example for other WTO members.
The spokesman said the US decision violates agreements
concerning China's accession to the WTO and the internal procedure
would "harm the multilateral trade regime."
Chong said that China would work with the US to properly resolve
the issue through dialogue, but that it reserves the right to take
further action within the WTO framework.
(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2005)