Brussels, 27/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - However, an anti-subsidy investigation is still pending against the Chinese suppliers, but the European Commission would prefer to conclude the matter by means of a negotiated solution.
A few days ahead of the first-ever visit of a Chinese head of state to Europe, with President Xi Jinping to come to Brussels on 31 March, commercial tension between the EU and China has disappeared as if by magic. Following the amicable settlement over the last two weeks of two Chinese anti-dumping investigations - the first into German polysilicon and the second into French, Spanish and Italian wines - which made it possible to bury the hatchet over the solar panels affair, the Commission has softened its stance on a dossier which has been dragging on for two years - subsidies to Chinese producers of telecommunications equipment.
The Commission has revised its decision in principle of 15 May 2013 to open ex-officio (in other words, by its own initiative) anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into imports of Chinese mobile telecommunications equipment, Commissioner Karel De Gucht announced to the press on Thursday 27 March. The anti-dumping investigation will not be pursued, but the anti-subsidy investigation will be put on ice for a while, to allow time to find a negotiated solution on this dossier. “There are a number of requests that I would like to be accepted before making a decision on the subsidy dossier, which is the real issue. I would like to reach a solution ahead of the economic and commercial dialogue meeting with China, which is set to take place in Brussels in late June or early July”, the commissioner added.
A more in-depth analysis showed that the problems caused by Chinese competition on the European market boils down to the subsidising of mobile telecommunications network in China, the Commission stated in a press release. The decision in principle on the anti-subsidy investigation therefore still stands, but will not be activated for the time being to allow negotiations with the Chinese authorities to continue towards an amicable solution, it adds. “Today's decision (…) is a significant step towards addressing the mobile telecommunications case in its entirety. I am pleased that EU and China have recently been able to resolve a number of trade frictions, not least the polysilicon case and the wine case, where China terminated their investigation without imposition of any duty”, said De Gucht.
The Commission's suspicions relate to Chinese telecoms network equipment (2G, 3G and 4G) but not terminals (telephones, modems and tablets). The Commission does not name the Chinese companies in question, but it is known that the two major Chinese groups on this market, Huawei and ZTE, are suspected of receiving public support in the form of loans at a preferential rate. The European Executive takes the view that European telecoms equipment manufacturers, Sweden's Ericsson, Nokia Siemens of Finland and the French Alcatel-Lucent, are penalised by the knock-down prices practised by their Chinese competitors on the European market, but have decided not to make an official complaint due to fears of possible reprisals against their activities on a booming Chinese market. (EH)