The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), said on Monday that it still hopes to reach an amicable deal with China to solve the current textile disputes.

"We still keep our willingness to seek an agreement with China on textiles," European Commission spokeswoman Claude Veron-Reville told Xinhua in Brussels.

She said the EU was aware of a decision made by the Chinese government to abolish export tariffs on 81 types of clothing and textiles from June 1. "We are still looking into it," she said.

Veron-Reville insisted that the EU had figures on the surging imports of textiles from China and the consequence to the Europeanmarket was "negative".

The EU on Friday asked Chinese authorities to hold a formal consultation on two categories of Chinese textiles and clothing - flax yarn and T-shirts, urgently requiring China to limit exports of these two categories to a level no greater than 7.5 percent above the amount that entered the EU market during the period from March 2004 to February 2005.

However, the Chinese government argued that the move of the 25-nation EU was "unfair and unreasonable", asking the bloc to provide further evidences to back its position. Under the rules of the World Trade Organization, all quantitative quotas on textile products should be lifted as from Jan. 1, 2005.

Source: Xinhua