China strongly objects to the European Union's recent guidelines for restrictions on imports of Chinese textile goods, Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) spokesman Chong Quan said on Thursday.

He warned that the EU action would create "new unstable factors" for China-EU textile trade and have a negative impact on the global textile trade.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, issued special guidelines on textile and clothing imports from China on Wednesday.

The guidelines establish "alert zones" for each category of Chinese textile imports, allowing for increases in China's current market share. If the alert zones are reached, the EC can investigate.

The guidelines also create some subjective conditions for the EC to invoke what the Commission calls "safeguard actions." Chong said this violates "the spirit of free trade that is always promoted by the EU and seriously violates conditions delineated in legal documents for China's WTO admission."

Chong said that China and the EU share common interests and complementary advantages in the textile trade and that such unilateral action against the integration process undermines their common interests. The country hopes for resolution of the issue through dialogue.

China has adopted measures targeting stability in textile integration. Chong asked the EU to understand fully the efforts China has made and handle the issue with care.

Chong had similar words for the US on its possible sanctions on Chinese textiles, asking the country to recognize the huge negative impact of special restrictions on textile goods and to be prudent and responsible in considering such restrictions and conducting investigations.

The US announced Monday that it will launch a special restrictive measures investigation on cotton trousers, cotton knit shirts and cotton or manmade fabric underwear imported from China. The decision was made without application from US manufacturers and based on preliminary figures.

Chong said that would send a wrong signal to US manufacturers and set a bad example for other WTO members.

The spokesman said the US decision violates agreements concerning China's accession to the WTO and the internal procedure would "harm the multilateral trade regime."

Chong said that China would work with the US to properly resolve the issue through dialogue, but that it reserves the right to take further action within the WTO framework.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2005)