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The European Union's Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said here in Paris 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" on the 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.
(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2005)
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