Foreign and Military Affairs
Bloc may nail duties for 15 more months
By Ding Qingfen (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-01 07:38
In the latest anti-dumping case against China, the executive body of the European Union (EU) will submit a proposal this week to extend the duration of taxes on exports of Chinese as well as Vietnamese leather shoes, according to an unnamed Ministry of Commerce official.
News of the proposal comes as Premier Wen Jiabao criticized the international call for China to re-evaluate the yuan at the 12th China-EU Summit yesterday. He said it was unfair for nations to simultaneously employ protectionist measures on Chinese goods.
Trade experts and Chinese exporters are strongly against the proposal. They claim that the duties will eventually hurt European consumers.
"The move will not do any good for either side," said the unnamed official. "Chinese companies are firmly against it."
The European Commission, which proposes legislation for the EU, is expected to send the plan to EU ministers this week despite the fact that the proposal was recently rejected by a slim majority of EU member nations. A final decision may be made by January.
Since early October 2006, the EU has imposed an anti-dumping duty of 16.5 percent on imports of Chinese leather shoes. The measure has lasted for two years. The new proposal will extend the duties for another 15 months beginning next year.
From 2006 to 2008, exports of China's leather shoes decreased by 20 percent, incurring a job loss of 20,000.
China has been a prime target of trade protectionism this year. From January to September, 19 economies launched 88 probes into Chinese exports, involving more than $10 billion in exports, the ministry said.
Reasons why the probes can be launched have much to do with China's lack of a market economy status.
As a compromise during World Trade Organization talks, China agreed that WTO members could not recognize its market economy status until 2016. The concession allows trading partners to use a third country, usually India, where manufacturing costs are higher than China's, to evaluate Chinese goods' costs.
The Chinese government said it hoped the European Commission would submit a fair proposal.
"We have been fed up with the duty case," said Wei Yafei, an official from the Leather Machinery Institute under the China Light Industry Machinery Association. "Chinese confidence will be smashed if the extension is approved. The additional 15 months will hold back Chinese producers on exporting."
Wei said the proposal does not make any sense.
"The measure will not bring Chinese exporters to bankruptcy, but this does not mean that the EU should take it," she said.
"The commission has no reason for the proposal. On the one side, the EU claims to fight against trade protectionism, but on the other, it is doing something totally different," said Zhou Shijian, executive council member of China WTO Research Association.
There are 8,000 leather shoemakers in the EU. Four-fifths of the shoes are made in southern Europe, including Italy, Portugal, Spain and France, which is the major supporter of the extension.
