China urged Europe Thursday to refrain from "putting up barriers" in a new set of EU trade priorities that would hit Chinese textiles.
The European Commission on Wednesday proposed the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) that would deprive China of its current right to pay only a three-percent tariff, against the usual 12 percent.
EU textile import quotas are to end from January 1, 2005, as agreed under the last so-called Uruguay Round of WTO trade talks in the 1990s.
"I believe (the removal of quotas) in the textile trade is an important result of Uruguay Round of the WTO talks and a consensus from WTO members," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a regular press briefing.
"I hope all countries will make contributions towards the realisation of integration of the textile trade instead of putting up new barriers."
Outgoing EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy said that the new EU trade preferences for 2006-2008 would "focus on the poorest and most vulnerable developing countries who most need trade preferences to access the EU market".
Lamy, who stands down as EU trade chief at the end of October, has sought to reassure textile-exporting developing countries who fear the end of the textile quotas will open the floodgates to China.
Countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have expressed concerns that removing the quotas will deprive them of relative protection for their exports to the European Union.
WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund warned China Wednesday that the cost of maintaining its fixed currency regime was mounting and argued for a widening of the trading band on the yuan by 10 percent to 15 percent to stave off pressures on its giant economy.
"I think the cost of maintaining the exchange rate regime is going to be large and will grow over time - which is why I think there is an argument for a quick move," IMF's China division chief Eswar Prasad said.
The Chinese yuan, which is fixed to the US dollar, is currently considered grossly undervalued and the United States, Japan, and the European Union have been groaning under the weight of cheap Chinese exports.
The IMF has been prodding China for sometime to swiftly adopt a flexible currency regime - like widening the band in which it allows the currency to trade against the dollar - but Beijing says the time is not ripe yet.
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