'Increasing competition brings trade frictions'
By Guo Nei (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-09-22 06:25

"The export barriers set by the developed markets indicate that China's textiles are improving in quality," he said. "If the products are poor in quality, foreign consumers would never think of buying them."

Last year, China's textiles and apparels registered 1.57 trillion yuan (US$193.8 billion) in sales revenue and US$97.4 billion in export volume, 16.4 per cent of the country's total exports and at least a quarter of global exports.

Du said China's leading position in textile and apparel exports has been acquired through constant trade frictions.

In 1994, Europe and the United States began imposing across-the-board quotas on Chinese textiles, but the industry has continued to expand and surge in exports.

Du cited the Japanese free market where Chinese textiles make up 70 per cent of Japan's total imports, saying this also testifies that Chinese textiles are competitive.

"When an emerging country tries to penetrate the world market, trade frictions are inevitable," Du said. "The more advanced the industry, the fiercer the trade frictions. There will not be trade frictions in outdated industries."

He said the special protection measures Europe and the United States have adopted are an abuse of the World Trade Organization's commitments.

Restrictive measures may save costs, Du said, but they are not the right way to deal with trade frictions in a globalized world.

Du urged Chinese textile firms to build up more proprietary brands and techniques to further enhance their competitiveness. Only in this way, he said, can they stand up against the various trade barriers ahead.

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