China is making every effort to curb the dramatic rise in exports of textiles and clothing to rich nations following the abolition of quotas, China's trade minister said yesterday.
Trade Minister Bo Xilai said the results were already showing.
He said growth in China's exports of textiles and clothing slowed to 3.3 percent year-on-year in March.
Exports of textiles and clothing to the European Union fell 11 percent in the same month.
"We want to soften the shockwave that could be from the rise in Chinese textile exports," Bo told a news conference in Paris after talks with French Trade Minister Francois Loos.
"It is a temporary phenomenon and this phenomenon will weaken or disappear."
Bo said he was optimistic that a solution can be found to settle the issue. "China is very aware of the importance of this issue for France and the European Union," he said.
Both the EU and the United States have raised the alarm over a surge in Chinese textile and clothing imports since the end of a global quota regime on January 1.
The EU has launched an investigation into nine products. On Monday, the European Union said it wants to work with China's new international trade negotiator to resolve a dispute over surging Chinese textile exports.
"We want to work closely with Gao Hucheng to reach a satisfactory solution," EU spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio said.
China said on Sunday it has put Gao, vice minister of commerce, in charge of international trade disputes.
The EU last Friday launched an investigation into imports of Chinese textiles that could see the bloc re-impose quotas lifted at the start of this year. That investigation, which is scheduled to last up to 60 days, includes informal talks with China.
China has criticized the moves, saying they violate rules of the World Trade Organization.
Under the EU process, China, European textile producers, retailers and other interested parties have 21 days from April 30 to submit concerns to the EU trade department.
France has called for the EU to speed up its procedures for introducing safeguard quotas.
The investigation concerns nine categories of clothing and textile products where the EU says imports have risen up to 534 percent since quotas were lifted on January 1 under WTO rules.