On December 22, EU Council of Ministers voted to extend levying of anti-dumping duties on shoes from China and Vietnam for another 15 months. Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said that China express its strong discontent at extension of levying of anti-dumping duty in any form and would appeal to the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism and take measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.

Yao stated that in October of 2006 when the EU decided to levy anti-dumping duties on Chinese leather shoes, there was controversy inside the EU due to the lack of legal grounds and evidence. Finally, European Commission decided to levy anti-dumping duties on Chinese leather shoes for 2 years instead of the usual 5 years, the levy of anti-dumping duty should be terminated at the close of 2-year period.

However, in 2008, the EU launched an anti-dumping review on Chinese leather shoes. On November 19th, most members of EU rejected the extension of anti-dumping duties based on facts. But EU, under the pressure of trade protectionism, insisted on the extension, which shows that it has given way to protectionism.

Yao said, EU footwear industry, through long-term quota protection and several years of anti-dumping measures, has completed necessary industrial restructuring. At present, all indicators of EU industry show good signs and its export is robust, showing that the EU industry is competitive and no longer need protection. In the global supply chain, the EU industry is entering into middle and high-end markets and its products face no direct competition from Chinese products. Therefore, the anti-dumping measures on Chinese shoes are meaningless.

Yao Jian said we had noticed that EU importers, retailers, and many member countries are opposed to the anti-dumping measures. This has fully reflected the hope for normal trade of shoes inside the EU. We hoped that the EU could respect the facts, follow the opinions of European people and terminate anti-dumping against shoe imports from China.

Yao reiterated that countries should avoid abuse of trade protectionism during the recovery of global world economy. Disputes should be settled through dialogues and cooperation so as to realize mutual benefits and an all-win situation. Trade protectionism can only do harm to mutual trust and lead to losses to all parties concerned.

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