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China is in firm opposition to the inspection by the Council of Europe (CE) for special restrictions of Chinese textiles export, said Chong Quan, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce said in Beijing Monday.

The CE issued a special guide principle on Chinese textile products on April 6, which was based on statistics of nine categories of importing textile from China.

Chong acknowledged that CE carried out a supposed survey to restrict nine categories of textile goods imports from China including sweaters, trousers and shirts, when it subjectively held that Chinese textile imports have exceeded a certain growth margin. This was in violation of basic policies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and relevant specifications in No 242 section of China's report on joining the WTO, Chong said.

The CE, however, did not have adequate reasons to carry on this special probe, noted Chong. The relevant statistics indicated that the CE consisted merely of 15 member nations in the first quarter of 2004, whereas in the first quarter this year it had 25 member nations.

So the situation was quite different and incomparable. Moreover, he said, China's export statistics show only the average price of ladies' blouse under the Seventh category had lowered while the prices for all other textile products rose to some extent, and China had presented its formal comments on the matter to the European side and hoped to carry out informal consultations with it.

Both China and Europe should shoulder their responsibility for maintaining trade stability, the spokesman said, voicing the hope that the CE can tackle the issue prudently, so as to avoid the negative impact of a unilateral action.