China to India: Don’t use trade remedies against our products
China has warned India against using “trade remedy” measures against Chinese products after New Delhi launched a series of investigations into certain items exported from here.
The ministry of commerce said that trade disputes between India and China should be resolved through consultations rather than investigations.
The ministry statement came after “India announced on July 21 it will launch an anti-dumping investigation over photovoltaic cells and units imported from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, and Malaysia.”
“China is paying close attention to the investigation and hopes India will conduct it in a prudent manner and according to relevant regulations,” Wang Hejun, head of the commerce ministry’s trade remedy and investigation bureau told official news agency, Xinhua.
Wang warned that adopting trade remedy measures against photovoltaic products would impact the development of the sector in India and “dampen the sector's long-term development worldwide as well as economic and trade cooperation between China and India.”
“All countries should cooperate for the sustainable and healthy development of the photovoltaic sector, which is significant in fighting climate change, rather than resorting to trade remedy measures and disrupting trade orders,” Wang said.
According to the report, India's photovoltaic market has witnessed fast expansion, with its photovoltaic power generating capacity growing 3.7 times over the past three years, benefitting from China's photovoltaic products .
The July 21 probes were the latest to be launched by India against Chinese items this year.
India launched 12 investigations against Chinese products this year, second only to the US, amid a rise in amid a rise in bilateral trade. But the rise in bilateral trade has come in the backdrop of what Chinese officials say is India’s increasing protectiveness of its manufacturing sector.
“We have also discovered that India's trend of launching trade remedy investigations has already shifted from lower-end products such as garments, glass and mining products, to higherend goods such as new materials and machinery,” Xue Rongjiu, deputy director of the Beijingbased China Society for WTO Studies, told the China Daily newspaper earlier this month.
“Because India's manufacturing structure is similar to China's, both are facing the same problem to boost exports to developed markets,” Li Gang, vicepresident of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing, said.