|
EU may free Chinese goods next month
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-28 21:14
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said Sunday he will present EU
governments with proposals to unblock millions of dollars worth of Chinese
textile imports held up at customs, the Associated Press reported.
|
Chinese women sew garments at a clothing
factory in Wuhu, in east China's Anhui province August 28, 2005.
[newsphoto]
| If his plans are accepted, the
crisis over the backlog of Chinese bras, sweaters and other clothes could be
over by mid-September, Mandelson told British Broadcasting Corp. television. He
said he will make the proposals to EU governments on Monday.
"I am making proposals to our member states ... to begin the proceedings to
unblock all the goods which are currently held at customs," Mandelson said.
"I hope that member states will cooperate with me in doing that and they
won't prevent the speedy passage of those procedures," he added. "If they
cooperate I believe that we will be able to unblock the all the goods currently
held at customs by the middle of next month."
He spoke in London as EU trade officials negotiated in Beijing to end the
trade crisis. EU officials said they hoped those negotiations would end in an
agreement Sunday on how to unblock the exports which could then be quickly
endorsed by the union's 25 member nations.
European retailers say their business is threatened by EU quotas introduced
in June to halt a flood of cheap Chinese clothing imports.
The temporary quotas were introduced in an agreement with China after
complaints from European textile producers that their livelihoods were
endangered by a surge in Chinese goods following the expiry of global textile
trade limits in January.
Mandelson blamed EU governments for the crisis by continuing to issue import
licenses for Chinese goods for weeks after his agreement in June to fix the
quotas. He also said Chinese authorities "were a bit slow off the mark in
introducing their own exports control system."
The result was that Chinese goods piled up at bonded warehouses on European
borders leaving retailers warning of empty shelves this autumn and winter.
Mandelson said governments should now act to get those clothes into stores.
"In the implementation of this agreement there has been a glitch," he told
the BBC. "It is not the fault of importers, it is not the fault of retailers, I
don't believe they should be unfairly penalized."
Mandelson stressed that the EU's quotas were introduced to protect textile
importers from poor nations outside Europe from Chinese competition, as well as
to shelter European producers. However, he insisted such protection could only
be temporary.
"The need is for everyone to adjust to the new market realities, adjust to
the reality of China's growth and make sure that we reform economically, invest
and adapt so that we can take on the challenge of this competition," he said.
"The protectionist route is simply a cul-de-sac."
|
 | | | Explosion near Sanlitun | | |  | | | Tornado occurs off the waters of Zhejiang | | |  | | | Taiwan experts in Sichuan for panda selection | | |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
