China's Commerce Minister Bo Xilai (
"We believe that WTO members will honor their word," Bo said in a speech to a conference in Beijing. Open textile markets are an "important right" secured in exchange for concessions during China's negotiations to enter the global trade body, he said.
US textile makers are preparing to file dozens of trade complaints against China in a bid to cap an expected surge in imports of pants, shirts, towels and other items, the National Council of Textile Organizations said on Sept. 1.
National Spinning Co and Milliken & Co are among companies that say the US will lose as many as 600,000 of its 700,000 textile and apparel jobs next year with the expiration of quotas on Jan. 1.
Once the four-decade-old quotas are eliminated, China will dominate the global trade in clothing, according to the WTO and US International Trade Commission. US apparel and shoe imports from China grew to more than US$27 billion last year, a 50 percent increase from 1999. China will grow to supply 50 percent of US clothing imports after the quota system ends, from 16 percent in 1995, the WTO said in a report in August.
China has 90 million workers employed directly or indirectly in the textile industry and the government is paying "high attention" to the issue, Bo said. The Bush administration has said it will consider the complaints on a case-by-case basis.
US President George W. Bush, who is seeking re-election in November, has come under pressure from American lawmakers, companies and unions who blame unfair Chinese trade practices for contributing to 2.8 million jobs lost since early 2001. The US trade deficit with China reached a record US$124 billion last year.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last