May 31, 2005
Chinese Minister of commerce Bo Xilai said in Beijing Monday that the Chinese government is still looking for a proper solution by negotiations with the United States and the European Union (EU) on the textile trade issue.

After United States and the EU took restrictive measures upon China's textile products, China announced Monday morning it would no longer impose export tariffs on 81 categories of textile products, beginning June 1, 2005.

During a press conference hosted by the State Council Information Office, Bo said the restrictive measures taken by the two parties were "groundless."

Bo said that the US and EU had failed to meet the preconditions required by Article 242 in the documents concerning China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which allows WTO members to impose limits on certain types of China-originated clothing.

"The US and EU are liable to provide solid evidence to prove both a surge in their imports of China-made textile products and the resultant market disruption," Bo said.

He said the Chinese government attaches great importance to the relations with the two parties and hopes friendly cooperation can be continued.

"We will not take retaliatory actions since economic and trade cooperation with the two parties are very extensive," he said.

He said he is optimistic about future cooperation with the two parties.

"Some parties tend to use restrictive or retaliatory measures when problems come out, but this is not a way to solve the problems properly," Bo said.