Supachai Panitchpakdi, director-general of the World Trade Organization, said Wednesday that China's efforts in settling the textile issue is commendable.

"First, China is trying to do self-restraint exercise," said the WTO chief in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. "I learn that China is reducing rebate or some other kinds of support to textile exporters, and sometimes even putting quotas." Second, he added, China is looking into possibilities of working with those poor countries that seemingly are being affected by any form of loss of preference that maybe related to textile.

"The way that China is trying to move and work with these countries shows a good faith, because countries may need access to the Chinese market and may need investment," he said.

Supachai said the textile issue is about competitiveness and certain rules. "China is very competitive in textile, as Germany is very competitive in cars and Brazil is very competitive in sugar. They should be able to be allowed to make use of their competitiveness to the fullest possible level under the rules," he said. "But the ways people look at the rules are different. That's something that we need to sit down and discuss," he added.

The WTO chief has made it clear time and again that "we should not be making or jumping into conclusions too soon."

"We have to take a longer view. We need statistics to cover all the seasons. We don't want to be influenced by seasonal or patternal changes." In the first few months of the year, tremendous trade in textile was seen not only from China but from around the world.

"My research shows that textiles exports rise from other developing countries as well. The world market is not controlled by any particular country," said Supachai.

As to some countries' worries about "Chinese menace", the WTO director-general said he would rather call it "Chinese challenges".

"China offers more challenges. The world needs challenges to be able to move on, to produce reform, and to be renovated ... We should hold the right conception that China is part of the global effort to expand global prosperity and trade volume," he said. Supachai said some people have misconception to China since they look at only export or surplus.

"But if you look at other countries -- like Japan, Germany, or some other Asian and European countries -- they're all accumulating. Japan's surplus is much larger than China's." Supachai said China's emergence is nothing new, since it is a process which could be seen in the United States' emergence 100 years ago, Japan's emergence in the 1960s, and South Korea's emergence in the 1970s.

"You can see it's happening all the time. If you look at China as a challenge, you can look at the Chinese question in a most constructive manner," said the WTO chief.

Source: Xinhua