The Chinese government on Saturday expressed opposition to the
US government's acceptance of an application to limit imports of
China-made cotton trousers, said a spokesman with Ministry of
Commerce.?
The US textile industry submitted the application earlier
Saturday, the second move targeting the Chinese textile products
within a week.
"The Chinese government opposes the US government's decision and
reserves the rights to take further actions under the framework of
the World Trade Organization," spokesman Chong Quan said in a
statement.
The decision violates conditions delineated in legal documents
for China's WTO admission and US domestic rules on the procedure,
Chong said, noting that it also runs counter to the WTO's
principles of liberalization of free trade and free textile
trade.
"This will severely frustrate the Chinese confidence in the
international trade environment after its WTO accession, and also
harm the interests of US cotton growers, consumers, importers,
fabric machinery makers and US investors in China," Chong said.
The move also opened a bad record for textile protectionism,
which is undoubtedly detrimental to the multilateral trade system
and affects the balance of rights and obligations of China in WTO,
Chong said.
After 15 years of tough talks, China joined WTO in 2001.
The Chinese government urges the US government to handle such
cases cautiously and to amend its errors so as to avoid sabotaging
the Sino-US economic and trade relations, he said.
The United States vowed in Oct. 22 to impose a one-year-maximum
quota on imports of Chinese socks to limit growth of China's market
share after investigation on US domestic makers' appeal to limit
Chinese imports.??
Sino-US trade hit US$126 billion in 2003. Chinese exports to the
US market recorded US$92 billion, with US$7 billion of that made up
of fabric products.
(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2004)