BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhuanet) -- China's move to raise its export tariff on textile products showed that the country is taking an active approach to safeguarding an orderly and free international trade environment, said Ministry of Commerce spokesman Chong Quan here Friday.

    China announced Friday it was raising the export tariffs on 74 sorts of textile products, with a 400-percent hike for most of the products, beginning June 1, 2005.

    The move will optimize the structure of the Chinese textile industry and help the textile sector readjust its export strategies, said Chong. It will also safeguard the rightful interests of Chinese textile and clothing companies in the world market.

    China hopes all parties concerned can abide by WTO rules and be sensible in dealing with problems in the current textile trade, said Chong. China firmly opposes restrictions imposed by certain countries on the import of China-made textile products.

    The world eliminated the quota regime on textile goods on January 1 this year, according to WTO agreements. However, as a major supplier of textile goods and garments, China has faced limits or threats to import limits from the United States and the European Union lately.

    The tariff hike was announced in the wake of a United States decision this week to re-impose restrictions on seven kinds of China textile and clothing imports. The European Union is also pressing China to take more strict measures to curb textile exports to the European market. Enditem