China will standardize export prices while guaranteeing quality, the country's top trade official said on Monday at the 2005 China Development Forum.
"The government will take measures to standardize the exports of our most competitive products, particularly low- and medium-end items, in a bid to maintain their export prices at a steady level," said Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai.
The minister said the country's policies would fully respect the development rights of enterprises, but that such measures were need to deal with the trade conflicts that China expects to see as it becomes more deeply involved in the world economy.
China has encountered an increasing number of such conflicts in recent years, including the shoe-burning case in Spain and the ongoing dispute concerning footwear exports to Russia.
Bo said that this was an indication that the Chinese government had been restrained in its administrative interference.
"Trade conflicts, such as dumping and anti-dumping, are inevitable for China in international trade," said Bo. "We will handle them in accordance with rules stipulated by the World Trade Organization and in line with our commitments to the WTO."
However, the government and the textile industry have imposed control measures for exports in that sector. Substantial concern has been expressed in international markets since all quotas on textiles between all WTO members were eliminated at the start of this year.
Bo downplayed concerns about China's trade surplus with the US. "The considerable gap between the two countries' trade figures mainly result from the different calculating methods," Bo said.
He also pointed out that Chinese exporters are not the only ones to benefit from trade between the two countries, stating that US importers' profits were far greater than those of Chinese exporters. Moreover, a significant amount of the surplus comes from foreign-invested companies.
American consumers also benefit, said Bo, as Chinese commodities greatly reduce end-prices.
(China Daily March 22, 2005)
