Sino-US talks on textile tottering forward
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-08-21 09:20

Though China and the United States failed to reach an agreement at their third round of talks on textile trade in San Fransisco, United States, by Wednesday local time, experts agreed "progress" has been made and would pave the way for further talks.

"Though there was no agreement reached at the talk, the two sides have shown sincere desire for further negotiations, which is a kind of progress," said Zhang Xiaoji, a research fellow with the State Council Development and Research Center.

There still exist substantial differences over some fundamental issues between the two sides. Both sides agreed to continue textile negotiations in a bid to find a solution to their disputes over the issue and create an environment for the stable development of bilateral textile trade, said a spaceman of China's Ministry of Commerce after the talk ended.

Meantime, the Office of the United States Trade Representative issued an announcement on its website, saying the two sides are working toward a broad solution which provides more certainty to the textile market.

"The result of the 3rd round of talks is within expectation as the two sides diverge greatly on many details," Zhang Xiaoji said.

According to overseas reports, the United States brought a "package" schedule to the talk covering a broad range of textile products and setting narrow growth limits which were unacceptable to the Chinese side.

Experts predicted that the two sides would hold the next round of talks before the end of this month, when the US government is scheduled to decide whether or not to launch another safeguard measure against six categories of Chinese textile products.

About 20 categories of Chinese textile products are under US safeguard curbs or investigations since the global quota system expired on January 1, 2005.

Shen Anjing, president of the Shanghai Textile Technology Institution, is optimistic about the final result of the talks, saying that the two sides will finally reach some kind of agreement like that with the EU.

China struck a deal with the European Union in June that restricts the growth of clothing shipments in ten categories to between 8 and 12.5 percent through 2007.

"The US market needs China's textile products, and the so-called safeguard measures will harm the interests of not only American retailers but also consumers."

"The latest development in the EU market should give the US some warning, " Shen said.

Recently, the import restrictions on Chinese textiles have harmed European textile traders, consumers and retailers. Some European Union countries, including Germany, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, are pressing the European Commission to relax its quotas on China's textile and apparel products.

China's domestic textile industry is expecting a satisfactory outcome.

"We hope that a deal can be reached as soon as possible to create a clear trade environment for textile traders both at home and abroad," said Bai Jinliang, vice-president of Jiangsu Suntian International Corporation, an export company.

Textile exports to the United States accounted for 40 to 50 percent of the company's total export volume and its business covers all products being tagged with safeguard measures.

Bai said that the textile issue has become a gambling chip for interest of different US groups.

"But if only two sides are eager to solve the problem, they are likely to reach some kind of compromise," said Zhang Xiaoji, adding, "Compromise leads to agreement."

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