China protests EU first anti-subsidy duties

BEIJING -- China opposes the European Union's decision to impose its first-ever anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on imports from China, said Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesman Yao Jian on Saturday.

Yao made the remarks in a statement on the MOC website after the EU announced its anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on Chinese coated fine paper -- used for high-quality printing.

The EU has violated the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules by imposing both anti-subsidy and anti-dumping trade remedies on the same goods, Yao said.

The Chinese government and enterprises provided much evidence to show the coated fine paper industry in China is a competitive one where market economy principles are applied and the government never intervened in company operations or goods pricing, Yao said.

The EU ruling contravened many WTO rules and seriously impaired the interests of Chinese enterprises, Yao said.

China and the EU should oppose trade protection, avoid abuses of trade remedies and properly tackle trade frictions through negotiations, Yao said.

China will carefully study and evaluate the final ruling and reserve its right to take legal action accordingly to protect the interests of Chinese enterprises, Yao said.

The anti-subsidy duties will range from about 4 percent to 12 percent and the anti-dumping tariffs will range from 8 percent to 35.1 percent.

The dual duties would last for the next five years and could be extended if the expiry leads to a recurrence of injury to the European paper industry, the European Commission said.

The EU launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of Chinese coated fine paper in February 2010, followed by an anti-subsidy investigation two months later.