Chinese shoemakers on Thursday reiterated their resolute
opposition to European Union anti-dumping duties, pledging further
efforts to protect their interests.
The alliance of Chinese shoemakers against the anti-dumping
move, comprising many Chinese footwear enterprises, said it is
firmly against the sanctions levied upon Chinese-made leather
shoes, although the decision was made when EU member states were
reported to be split in a vote over the punitive duties on March
16.
The European Commission (EC) announced last week that it would
place anti-dumping duties on leather shoes from China and Vietnam,
despite the fact that only three countries voted in favor of the
tariffs, ten voted against and 11 abstained.
The duties on Chinese shoes will start at about 4 percent from
April 7 and rise to 19.4 percent in six months.
However, children's shoes and high-tech sports shoes will be
excluded from the tariffs.
The alliance said it disagrees with the EC's decision to treat
Chinese shoemakers as state-nurtured companies and not freely
competing market players, and the conclusion that the EU's footwear
industry has suffered losses due to imports of Chinese
footwear.
The alliance also stressed that the EC has no grounds to
attribute the predicament of some EU companies to the imports of
Chinese shoes, and the proposed anti-dumping sanction lacks
fairness and legitimacy.
The Chinese alliance said it has selected 15 member companies to
form an executive committee to carry out further steps against the
anti-dumping move, including inviting European lawyers, economic
consultants and investigation organizations to search for evidence
in favor of Chinese shoemakers.
(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2005)