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PARIS, May 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The European Union's Trade
Commissioner Peter Mandelson said here Thursday that there is not "any sort of
diplomatic break or trade war between the European Union and China."
After meeting with visiting Chinese
Trade Minister Bo Xilai, Mandelson excluded the possibility of diplomatic break
or trade war between the EU and China over a surge of textile exports to the EU
countries since quotas were abolished.
"There is no question of any diplomatic break or any
sort of trade war between the European Union and China," Mandelson said.
He said his meeting with Bo, which lasted one hour
and a quarter, was in an "excellent atmosphere."
"I am prudent and I stick to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) regulations that I will follow up. I'm not going to take any
action that is precipitate, that is reactionary, that is going to turn the clock
back on textile imports," he said.
Mandelson confirmed an inquiry was being done by the
European Union over the consequences of nine textile categories and that there
exists a possibility to take quick action, which will be based on proofs and
facts.
The United States and the European Union, at the
request of their producers who claimed that they were affected by massive
arrival of Chinese textile products, started at the end of April some procedures
that could lead to limitation of imports of Chinese textile products.
"This possible impact will be taken into
consideration," said the European official, noting that there will be no
flashback.
For his part, Bo declared that China "has been very
prudent" onthe issue of its EU-bound textile exports.
"We only hope to see a stable increase" in exports,
he said, adding that China had already taken specific measures this year that
had led to a slowing in the growth of its textile sales to the EU.
Meanwhile, an EU commission delegation is expected to
go to Beijing next week for further talks on the textile issue at technical
level, according to Mandelson. Enditem |