China has agreed to a Japanese request to hold talks to end their festering trade dispute, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) announced Wednesday.
On June 22, the Japanese government, via its embassy in Beijing, requested to send officials to China to discuss the lifting of punitive tariffs on Japanese goods, and then it would invite a Chinese delegation to Japan to hold talks on Japan's curbs on three farm products imported from China.
The Chinese ministry made its reply on June 25, agreeing to end the ongoing trade war through consultations and talks and said that this is China's consistent practice in solving disputes.
At the same time, the ministry urged Japan to immediately lift its import "curbs" on three farm products so that bilateral consultations could be fruitful and the dispute could be solved.
But the ministry said that the Japanese government has yet to make an official reply.
On April 23 this year, the Japanese government started temporary protective measures against three farm products, including green onion, fresh mushroom and tatami rushes, which mainly imports from China.
The Japanese decision runs against the WTO rules in several aspects -- the selection of products to investigate, the basic conditions to impose the protective measures, the objectiveness of the decision and some others, the Chinese ministry said on Wednesday.
The selection of the three farm products to investigate runs counter to the non-discrimination principle of the WTO. The Japanese side selected the three farm products, more than 90 percent of which came from China, for investigation. But it did not investigate those surging imports of farm products from some WTO members. Such an investigation has constituted nation-discrimination, the ministry pointed out.
China decided on June 11 to slap 100 percent tariffs on imports of Japanese vehicles, mobile phones and air conditioners in retaliation for duties imposed on some Chinese farm imports by Japan in April.
Japan's automakers are hit the hardest by China's retaliatory measure. Japan exported a total of 4.45 million vehicles in 2000, of which 47,090 went to China, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
(China Daily 06/28/2001)
