French President Jacques Chirac predicted Thursday that the European Union (EU) could within 10 to 15 days apply 'safety clauses' against Chinese textiles.
Terming the booming Chinese textile imports into the European market as an "unacceptable invasion," Chirac said during a televised debate program that the EU is now studying the launch of "safety clauses," which are very likely to be applied within a fortnight.
Chirac said that France is all for the launch of these clauses, and he believed that this is also the position of other EU countries.
China has already voiced its strong opposition to the EU's recent restriction guidelines on imports of Chinese textile goods, and called for resolving the issue by strengthening dialogue and cooperation from both sides.
The EU action would create "new unstable factors" for China-EU textile trade and would have a negative impact on the global textile trade, Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Chong Quan warned on April 7.
The restriction guidelines, issued on April 6, establish "alert zones" for each category of Chinese textiles imports allowing for increases in China's current market share. If the "alert zones" are reached, the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, can investigate.
The guidelines also create some subjective conditions for the European Commission to invoke what the Commission calls "safeguard actions."
Chong said this goes against "the spirit of free trade which is always promoted by the EU and seriously violates conditions delineated in legal documents for China's WTO admission."
He also warned that "any unilateral action against textile integration process" would undermine the common interests shared by China and the EU in textile trade.
In a latest development, the European Commission said earlier Thursday in Brussels it aimed to decide on April 25 whether to launch an investigation into booming Chinese textile imports.
Europe's textile industry is pressing the Commission to impose safeguard measures to stem the possible huge flow of Chinese imports since the end of a global quota system on Jan. 1.Xinhua News
