China-EU negotiation on textiles has now continued for five days to no avail. Just as the two sides were still locked in intense bargaining, the Information Office of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce released a news through its website, saying that the fourth round of China-US talks on textiles was scheduled to be held in Beijing on August 30 and 31.

Sources say that by the end of this month, the US side will make a final decision on whether or not setting limits to six kinds of Chinese textiles. Earlier in the latter half of May, the US side had set limits on seven types of Chinese textiles including knitted shirts and cotton trousers. Presently about 20 kinds of Chinese textiles are put under US-set limits or quota investigation. US textile and ready-made garment makers have lodged strong protests, declaring that the limit-setting practice has resulted in the closure of a number of factories and unemployment of workers, demanding that the government adopt measures to improve the situation.

This can be described as "one wave arises when the previous one has not yet subsided". The pincer attack launched by the EU and the US has made Chinese textiles face a difficult moment. On this point, the contradiction facing China and the United States seems to be greater and more difficult to handle compared to that with EU.

US manufacturers have formed a strong interest group. On the question regarding China-EU textiles, the European Commission is subject to two-fold pressures from the "limit-setting faction" and the "anti-limit-setting faction", this doesn't put China completely in a passive position in negotiation, and this often makes it possible for China to put forward rational proposition in its own favor by taking advantage of the divergent opinions within the EU.

But in negotiation with the United States, China must face the strong interest group formed by American manufacturers as well as the powerful lobbying activities they launched against US Congress and the US government.

Due to the scattering of the interests of US consumers in general, they cannot effectively organize interest groups for lobbying, so China has to face the one-sided strong pressure from American manufacturers, it is imaginable how difficult the negotiation is. At the same time, the quota-setting conditions put forward by US manufacturers are more stringent than that of the EU. The alliance of US textiles manufacturers demanded that by 2008 the annual growth rate of 19 kinds of Chinese textiles exported to the United States is kept below 7.5 percent, obviously they hope to achieve more results than the EU in the present negotiation.

In the present China-EU negotiation, Chinese exporters proposed simply increasing quota. Regarding this, the EU representatives indicated that they could give a concrete answer only after an agreement was reached among EU member states. This shows the great flexibility. To prepare for the worst, the Chinese side agreed to prepay next year's quotas. Although this is not the long-term method for solving the problem, it is, after all, a good way for settling the problem of the "stockpile" of textiles at the European port.

The EU side has indicated that the withdrawal of commodities doesn't conform to the interests of European merchants and consumers. In negotiation with the US side, the question confronting us is extremely complicated -- no consensus was reached in the previous three rounds of negotiation.

At a time when disputes over trade between China and Europe have not yet solved, we are faced with negotiation with the US side, the already difficult negotiation has become more difficult. The US and the EU are both watching how China will present its card, they also compare with each other to avoid "suffering losses" themselves. This determines that China cannot make more concessions to the US and the EU, otherwise, "it is very difficult to make the matter clear" to both sides. This to some extent this has increased difficulty to reach an agreement in the negotiation.

By People's Daily Online