China said yesterday it firmly opposed a US move to slap new import quotas on Chinese clothing and hinted it could take the issue up with the WTO.
"The Chinese government expresses deep regret and firmly opposes this decision," the Commerce Ministry said on its Web site.
Beijing reserved the right to protect its interests through the world trade body it joined in late 2001, it said. It did not elaborate.
The Bush administration said on Tuesday it would impose new import quotas on Chinese clothing, opening a new line of attack against Beijing's trade policies.
Fears Washington might be shifting toward more protectionist policies pushed the dollar to record lows against the euro overnight.
China's shares staged a moderate technical rebound yesterday morning, with the quotas having no immediate impact, brokers said.
US manufacturers have accused China of pumping up its trade surplus with the US -- over US$100 billion -- by keeping the yuan unfairly low, leading to job losses in US factories.
The Commerce Ministry made no mention of possible retaliation despite calls for action by local business groups.
Chinese businesses still trying to work out likely damage to their bottom line said the government should do something.
"I think we should react somehow and call on the government to do something," Shi Jianwei, executive vice president of the China Cotton Association, said.
"This will reduce our exports," said Shi, who is also director of China's Cotton and Jute Bureau.
Next year's presidential elections in the US appeared to be the main motivation behind Tuesday's announcement, he said.
Another association representing textile exporters, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles, said the move would "ruin the fundamental interest of Chinese textile exporters, as well as the American consumers and traders."
It did not give estimates for likely economic losses to China's textile industry, which it said employed more than 15 million people directly and over 100 million indirectly.
Highlighting China's growing imports from countries like the US to keep its economy booming, it said that, from January to September, imports of US fabric and textile raw materials and products had risen 148 percent over the previous year to US$787 million.
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS