China, US begin 4th round of textile talks By Jiang Wei and Guan Xiaofeng (China Daily) Updated: 2005-08-31 05:50
By China and the United States yesterday started the fourth round of textile
consultation in Beijing in an effort to find a mutually satisfactory conclusion
to the textile disputes between the two countries.
The two sides exchanged views on this issue in the first-day talks, China's
Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said in a statement afterward. It said the
consultations would be carried on today.
The talks held in the ministry were chaired by Vice-Commerce Minister Gao
Hucheng. The US delegation is headed by David Spooner, the US Trade
Representative's chief textile negotiator.
"The Chinese side hopes both sides will adopt a positive attitude in seeking
solutions so as to create a stable environment for Sino-US textile trade," the
ministry said in a brief statement yesterday morning.
Observers said that the two sides were expected to wrap up an agreement in
this round of talks because the US Government is due to make its final decision
on whether to introduce additional curbs on Chinese textile products on August
31.
Consumer goods' safety
In another development, China and the US are going to establish an urgent
consultation mechanism to respond to incidents threatening public safety or
public health which are caused by exported consumer products, according to a
plan signed by both sides yesterday.
The Action Plan on Consumer Product Safety was signed between China's General
Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and the
US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) at the China-US Consumer Product
Safety Summit which opened yesterday. The summit will end today.
The co-operation on consumer product safety between AQSIQ and CPSC now mainly
covers the fields of garments, textiles, toys, lighters, fireworks and electric
home appliances.
"We hope to establish a smooth liaison channel and an effective mechanism of
co-ordination to protect the safety and health of the consumers of both
countries," said Li Changjiang, director of the AQSIQ.
"And we will benefit by drawing useful and successful experience from our US
counterparts," Li said.
"The mechanism will provide quick and effective solutions to possible
crises," he added.
Hal Stratton, CPSC chairman, said: "We need to promote more international
harmonization of the standards on product safety."
"One of the best things we could do, particularly for the manufacturers and
the consumers, is to come up with more harmonization of these standards between
our country and other countries," he added.
According to the plan, the summit is to be held every other year, hosted
alternately by AQSIQ and CPSC.
