|
|
|
|
China to EU: Keep your shirt
on
BEIJING - "Because of the low
profit margins of Chinese textile products, China
needs to export 800 million shirts in order to buy
one Airbus A380," protested
Chinese minister of commerce Bo Xilai Tuesday as
he tried to put Europe's concerns over textile
exports into perspective.
Bo was referring
to the latest aircraft being developed by European
aircraft consortium Airbus; five A380s were
ordered by China Southern Airlines in an April
2005 deal. He made the remarks at a Sino-French
seminar in Paris amid fears in the European Union
that its textile industry is being harmed by the
surge in Chinese products following the end of
global textile import quotas on January 1.
China exported textile products worth
US$400 million to France in the first quarter of
the year, a small fraction of China's overall
textile exports, Bo said, adding that he hoped
current tensions would not affect the overall
trade situation between the two countries, the
China News Service reported. According to Bo,
China and France are facing more trade
opportunities than confrontations and any problems
can be solved calmly.
He encouraged French
companies to invest in China, saying the two
countries have broad possibilities for cooperation
across the business spectrum. Meeting with French
counterpart Francois Loos, Bo assured France that
China had already taken effective measures, such
as a limits on investment in the textile sector,
to stem the surge in textile exports. China is a
responsible player in world trade and wants to
"soften any shock wave that might provoke massive
exports of Chinese apparel," he said, adding that
economic cooperation between China and France has
not yet realized its full potential. In 2004,
Chinese trade with France was far below that with
the United States, Japan, Germany and South Korea.
Loos said he agreed China was a
responsible country and that it "could undertake
important steps in order not to disrupt the
market." French Finance Minister Thierry Breton
also met with Bo on Tuesday.
The EU
executive commission decided on April 28 to open
an inquiry into Chinese exports to Europe,
covering nine categories of textile products. Four
EU textile producers - France, Italy, Greece and
Spain - have asked the commission to apply
emergency procedures that would speed up the
implementation of restrictions.
(Asia
Pulse/XIC) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
All material on this
website is copyright and may not be republished in any form without written
permission.
© Copyright 1999 - 2005 Asia Times
Online Ltd.
|
|
Head
Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong
Kong
Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
|
|
|
|
