China and U.S. open textile negotiations

China and U.S. open textile negotiations

BEIJING (AFP): Chinese and U.S negotiators opened crucial
textile talks here yesterday which look to go to the wire with a
Chinese deadline for sanctions on U.S. imports due to take effect
Friday.

The discussions are the fourth round of negotiations between
the two sides since the United States in September announced a
cut in import quotas for Chinese textiles, alleging garment
transshipment via third countries.

China strongly protested against the cuts and announced it
would retaliate by slapping a temporary ban on selected U.S.
imports, including animal husbandry products, fruits, alcoholic
drinks, beverages and some textiles.

The U.S. negotiating team was once again led by Washington's
special negotiator for textiles, Rita Hayes, who arrived in the
Chinese capital on Sunday.

According to U.S. embassy sources, both sides are willing to
continue talking right up to the Friday deadline for the Chinese
ban, the imposition of which has already been delayed twice to
allow discussions to continue.

The talks will focus on the drafting of a new bilateral
textile accord to replace a 1994 agreement that expired at the
end of last year.

U.S. textile manufacturers are pushing for greater access to
the Chinese market, while China is seeking a revision of the U.S.
quota system.

The latest row has come at a difficult time for China's
textile industry, which was for a long time the country's top
export earner -- a ranking it had to relinquish in 1995 to
machinery and electronic products.

Annual textile exports in 1996 fell for the first time in a
decade.