China defends export policy against US, EU complaints

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-24 11:55

BEIJING: China Wednesday rejected charges from the United States and Europe against its restrictions on raw materials exports, saying that the country's policies were in keeping with the World Trade Organization regulations.

The Ministry of Commerce said the restrictions are meant to protect the environment and comply with Chinese trade commitments.

The European Union and the United States said on Tuesday they were taking a complaint to the WTO over China's export restrictions on some industrial raw materials used in steel, cars, microchips, planes and other products.

The materials at issue include coke, bauxite, fluorspar, magnesium, silicon metal, yellow phosphorus and zinc, according to the complaints sent to the Geneva-based world body.

"The goal of the Chinese side's policy on the relevant exports is to protect the environment and natural resources, and the Chinese side considers the relevant policy to be compliant with WTO regulations," the ministry said in a written statement.

It said Beijing hopes to resolve the dispute through dialogue in the WTO.

Separately, the ministry said Beijing has asked the WTO to investigate a US ban on imports of Chinese poultry.

The two countries banned imports of each others' poultry in 2004 following an outbreak of bird flu. Beijing lifted its ban after a few months and complains Washington has failed to follow through on a pledge to open its market to Chinese poultry exports.

"China's poultry products cannot be properly exported to the United States, and this has hurt the legitimate rights of the Chinese poultry industry," ministry spokesman Yao Jian said in the statement. It said Beijing has asked the WTO dispute resolution mechanism to create a group to investigate the US ban.