China strongly opposes the United States' preliminary ruling on
dual investigations into steel tubes and woven sacks imported from
China, a spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on
Tuesday.
The US Department of Commerce ruled on November 27 that Chinese
companies that produce light-walled rectangular pipes and tubes and
laminated woven sacks receive government subsidies.
Wang Xinpei, MOFCOM's spokesman, said China is deeply unhappy
with and resolutely opposes the US practice of continuing to launch
anti-subsidy probes into Chinese-made products after similar
investigations into coated free sheet paper and carbon steel
tubes.
The use of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures infringes US
rules and the tradition of not adopting anti-subsidy measures
against non-market economies, which has been practiced since 1984,
Wang stated.
On October 29, the US decided to initiate combined anti-dumping
and anti-subsidy investigations into Chinese-made lightweight
thermal paper, the latest and also seventh such probe targeting
Chinese products.
This has led to frequent anti-subsidy probes that are not
conducive to normal bilateral trade relations, he said.
The US Department of Commerce refused to take evidence from the
Chinese side and even ruled out that the textile industry, which
has nothing to do with the case, gets government policy loans, Wang
stated.
The ruling has hurt greatly the interests and feelings of
Chinese industry and is not acceptable to China, the spokesman
said.
China will continue to use legal means and necessary WTO dispute
settlement mechanism to protect the legitimate rights and interests
of domestic companies, he added.
(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2007)
