China wants a new round of talks on its textile trade dispute with the United States to begin as soon as possible, officials said yesterday in Beijing.
Zhao Hong, assistant representative of the Commerce Ministry's Trade Negotiation Office, said the two sides briefed each other on their preliminary positions on the clothing trade issue in a first round of technical talks last Friday.
"Both sides hope to resolve the issue through cooperation," said Zhao. "We are working vigorously and hope the second round of talks can begin as soon as possible."
The United States imposed limits on imports of seven categories of Chinese clothing in May and demanded consultations with China, charging that imports surged in the first few months of the year after worldwide quotas expired on January 1.
Zhao said China believes the textile dispute can be resolved through bilateral negotiations but refused to rule out the possibility of seeking intervention through the World Trade Organization.
China, which joined the WTO in 2001, said it has a legitimate right to enjoy the benefits of free global textile trade. But it has met with export limits from a number of WTO members, including the United States and the European Union.
China and the EU reached a deal earlier this month to avert a possible trade war over textiles and garments. The deal has been hailed as a good model for resolving similar disputes.
China has stressed that limits on its textile goods will harm not only the interests of Chinese businesses but also consumers, dealers and importers in the United States.
Of the total profit generated from China's clothing trade, only 10 to 20 percent goes to Chinese textile firms while the remainder flows to US importers, dealers and wholesalers, according to the Commerce Ministry figure.
Lu Jianhua, director of the ministry's foreign trade department, said that US cotton producers may eventually suffer from limits on Chinese clothing imports.
China is now the largest buyer of US cotton, with American cotton accounting for some 56 percent of China's total imports. Most of the imports are used in the manufacture of clothing.
"After the US set limits (on China's clothing), exports of Chinese textile firms will be reduced, and this may result in reduced imports of US cotton," said Lu.
Also yesterday, a Commerce Ministry spokesman explained that China has implemented temporary regulations to manage textile exports, but that time was running out for them to be effective.
"From our current point of view, by the day the regulation takes real effect on July 20, China's textile companies might find themselves left with no further exportable quotas to the US," said the spokesman.
The ministry released the new rules on Sunday, deciding to resume its license system for textile exports to some countries. The measure applies mainly to textile exports to the European Union on 10 categories of products.
China used the licensing system for some 20 years, until global quotas expired this year.