The China Textile Industry Council said on Monday it welcomes and supports the decision just made by the government to revoke export tariffs on 81 categories of textile products from June 1, 2005.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, China's cabinet, announced on Monday that the previous decision to quintuple the export tariffs on 74 textile categories, on which export tariffs were imposed from Jan. 1 this year, was revoked. The export tariff on flax yarn will also be abolished, said the Commission.

"This shows the textile trade disputes between China and the United States, the European Union have not been solved, and will probably continue for the future three to eight years," said Sun Huaibin, spokesman for the council told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

China previously decided to raise export tariff on 74 textile goods, which was a kind of effort made by the government to establish new international trade order and ease trade tension, he said.

"But the United States and the European Union did not understand China's sincerity and stuck to their restrictive measures, so China does not need to continue such effort."

With only China's unilateral effort, the new world textile trade order will never be established, he said.

To face the new challenge, the country's textile sector should readjust their export strategies and introduce more advanced technology to increase the added value of their products, Sun said.

The Chinese textile industry should diversify their export market and increase investment in less developed countries so as to alleviate trade friction, reduce risks and boost international cooperation, he said.

Source: Xinhua