The spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce of China expressed today China's strong opposition to the European Commission's publication of its guideline defining the basis and proceeding for safeguard measures against textile and clothing imports from China.

Chongquan, the spokesman, said that the guideline sets subjective conditions for the launch of safeguard actions which in turn create new factors undermining the bilateral trade on textiles.

He also accused the EU of deviating from the free trade principle which EU has kept promoting all along. This guideline, he asserted, is neither in line with the fundamentals of the World Trade Organization nor with the law concerning China's WTO accession.

He warned that the guideline would bring considerable negative impact not only on Sino-EU textile trade, but also on the global textile trade.

He noted that China and the EU are actually complementary to each other and share common interests on textile trade. In this case, any action to hold back the integration process of global textile trade will damage both parties.

Therefore, he stressed, the two sides should address the problems by strengthening dialogues and cooperation. As a responsible member of WTO, China has taken a series of positive measures to ensure a smooth transition to the integration.

Chong hopes that the EU fully understand China' efforts and cope with the problems in a prudent way. He does not wish to see the bilateral trade affected by any unilateral action.

Chong mentioned that the guideline activates investigations into and consultation on certain Chinese textile product when it reaches the alert zones set by the EU without any consideration of changes of other factors.

The European Commission announced the guideline on April 6. Peter Mandelson, European Commission for Trade, said that the use of any safeguard measures would be "objective, transparent and based on credible data".

By People's Daily Online