Brussels, 04/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who wants to toughen the EU's trade defence resources against unfair practices by third countries, has acknowledged that there is a problem with China over advanced technologies, and has warned Beijing of the risk of escalation of trade defence instruments.
Receiving Chen Deming after the meeting of European trade ministers on 31 May, De Gucht warned the Chinese trade minister of the risk of further recourse to the trade defence instruments, unless Beijing resolves the problem of its unfair trade practices, particularly in the high-technology sector.
Declining to confirm the rumour carried in the Financial Times of an anti-dumping investigation against Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE, the trade commissioner did however confirm the existence of the case. “There is a problem and either we resolve it together or sooner or later it will end up in trade defence instruments”, said De Gucht, adding that the case would not be made public until a decision had been made. “It is very important that China and the EU address the problem of advanced technologies and how we handle this, and it is not limited to telecoms”, he added, stressing the importance of “agreeing conciliatory practices”. This sounds very much like a warning, particularly as De Gucht announced early in May that he wanted to increase the EU's capacity to tackle unfair practices by emerging countries supporting their economic development with “state capitalism”. On Thursday, Commissioner De Gucht confirmed to the European trade ministers that he wanted the Commission to be able to make complaints on its own initiative instead of the companies, which are exposed to the risk of reprisals when they operate in third countries whose national enterprises see their products targeted by anti-dumping measures.
Although he did not comment on the rumour of a case related to Chinese telecoms equipment, Chen said that he was “prepared to work with Europe and to advance cooperation”. The Chinese minister called on the EU to “show restraint” in trade defence matters, promising that China would make progress on opening up its public procurement markets and that China would buy more from the EU in order to rebalance bilateral trade. (EH/transl.fl)