Brussels, 12/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - “No sooner does it join the WTO than China is failing to respect world trade rules”, said Spanish Socialist Enrique Baron Crespo, president of the committee on international trade, at the plenary session of the European Parliament on Thursday, during a verbal question to the Commission on practical solutions to be sought to remedy the problem of unfair Chinese competition as a result of Beijing's incomplete application of WTO rules. Europe is facing “recurrent problems” with China in terms of the protection of intellectual property, the fight against counterfeiting, the transparency of legislation, certification and respect for standards, the opening up of services (financial service, telecommunications and transport), and non-trade barriers, Mr Baron Crespo stressed, going on to criticise a Chinese attitude “bordering on the unacceptable” in terms of respect of international trade rules. In the case of Chinese textile exports, “we are not trying to call into question the total liberalisation of trade in textiles in place since 1 January, but to examine the extend of a policy of dumping for the markets”, said the Spanish MEP, who also stressed problems faced by the audiovisuals sectors in terms of piracy, as 70% of counterfeiting in this sector originates in China.
“It is true that in one sense China is testing the limits of what is acceptable (…). China is presenting a competitive challenge to us in Europe to which we need to adjust”, replied Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. On textiles, Mr Mandelson said that the Commission's response to the issue of Chinese exports was “appropriate and proportionate, but also legally defensible”. The Commissioner pointed out that the Commission's investigations into nine categories of textile products was underway and added that his services were still keeping an eye on the situation to see if any other categories of products should also be covered by the investigation. Mr Mandelson assured his audience that he had “actively engaged with the Chinese authorities” to see what more Beijing can do to impose its own limits on its exports. “The Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, [made a statement] yesterday that China will take even stronger measures in the near future”, said the Commissioner, but added that it was essential for “the effects to be felt quickly”. “It is imperative that China explain in detail, and quickly, the type of additional measures it intends to adopt (…) [or it] could leave me with no alternative other than to act under the WTO”, Mandelson added. On the application of world trade rules, the Commissioner said that “China has made substantial progress”, especially in the fields of coal, construction, automotives and sanitary and phytosanitary measures, but acknowledged that “concerns still remain in service sectors”. Although Mandelson feels that China “has shown willing” in terms of progress in the protection of intellectual property, it is essential to continue on the path of technical assistance on this and to boost customs cooperation, in order to allow Beijing to set up an efficient system against piracy.
The debate proposed by Mr Baron Crespo clearly raised the game among many of his colleagues, who shot many questions at Mr Mandelson: “recently, two people in Greece died when an iron of Chinese origin exploded. What does the Commission intend to do to ban the sales of such products and force China to come into line with safety standards?”, asked German Christian Democrat Daniel Caspary. “What concrete measures can the Commission take against Chinese hidden subsidies, especially in their exports of non-ferrous metals”, asked German Social Democrat Erika Mann. “Too little too late is how I would describe Mr Mandelson's efforts”, said Belgian Liberal Johan Van Hecke (VLD). “You say that China should be considered as a challenge and not a threat. However, it is applying wide-scale unfair practices: export subsidies, social dumping, State aid, granting capital loans with zero per cent rates, authorising piracy. All of this points to a highly aggressive commercial policy”, continued Mr Van Hecke, adding: “I hope that the measures you announce will not come too late for European industry”. British Green Caroline Lucas spoke out against the fact that the Chinese authorities have abolished the minimum wage in the textile industry and are not respecting social working norms. Jean-Claude Martinez (FN) called upon the Commissioner to propose a new customs technology to the WTO entailing a deduction, rather than a reduction, of customs duty “whereby the importer would open customs credit for the exporter, a kind of economic drawing right on the economy of the importer”. “With this system, Chinese textiles arriving in Europe would support a customs duty and a customs credit would be open to China, which could use it only to buy European products. This is a system of balanced-out contract which would help to resolve the problem of delocalisations, amongst other things”.