Europe’s top trade official for the first time officially cited Chinese mobile telecommunications equipment makers Huawei (華為) and ZTE Corp (中興) for violating anti-dumping and anti-subsidy guidelines late on Friday.
EU Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht said he was prepared to launch a formal investigation into anti-competitive behavior by the Chinese companies in order to protect a “strategic” sector of Europe’s economy.
“Huawei and ZTE are dumping their products on the European market,” De Gucht told reporters.
An investigation into the sales practices of Chinese telecoms companies would open a new front in a multibillion-euro trade offensive against a critical partner.
The EU is China’s most important trading partner, while for the EU, China is second only to the US. Chinese exports of goods to the 27-member bloc totaled 290 billion euros (US$372 billion) last year, with 144 billion euros going the other way.
Cheap capital for these Chinese companies “creates a distorted playing field and that is what this is about,” De Gucht said, referring to Huawei and ZTE, respectively the world’s No. 2 and No. 5 telecoms equipment makers.
Huawei denied it had broken any rules.
Separately, the China Daily quoted Huawei’s Western Europe president, Tao Jingwen (陶景文), as saying that the firm’s rivals were blaming the company for their own failures.
“Some European companies have blamed Chinese companies for their losses, but sometimes they were caused by their own laziness,” Tao said in a report before the publication of De Gucht’s remarks.
De Gucht’s office on Wednesday said an investigation was prepared, but put on hold. At the time no companies were officially named. The pause is to allow further negotiations with China in hopes for a resolution.
China responded on Thursday, threatening the EU with retaliation.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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