Despite pleas from local towel manufacturers for the government to immediately adopt import-relief measures and quotas on towels made in China, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) instead decided to launch an anti-dumping investigation yesterday.
The decision came on the eve of a planned march organized by traditional local industries who have been hurt by a flood of made-in-China imports.
Local manufacturers voiced their unhappiness with the decision at a press conference yesterday, saying it was a useless effort that wouldn't help save their industry.
"The intention behind the ministry's action was to guide International Trade Commission [ITC] toward rejecting the manufacturers' appeal that import-relief measures be adopted and adopting anti-dumping measures instead," said Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lai Shin-yuan (
The association of towel manufacturers filed a request for import-relief measures on Aug. 24 last year.
The ITC has until March 25 to decide whether to uphold the claim. The commission will hold a public hearing on the matter today.
Lobbying
Lai said she had learned that many China-based Taiwanese businesspeople, or taishang, have been lobbying the commission, pressing it to reject the request for import-relief measures.
Import-relief measures give the government the right to levy tariffs and set up quotas on Chinese imports and are opposed by the Beijing government.
"It would be a big political scandal if the government decides not to adopt import-relief measures because of the pressure from the taishang," Lai said.
"The march is very important. We hope it will bring pressure on the government to counter the pressure from the taishang. It is also an index for other manufacturers who are in the same situation as us," said Chu Chin-yuan (
"About 15 industries have been faced with closure since Taiwan was opened to Chinese imports after it got into the WTO in 2002," he said.
"The anti-dumping measures are a stalling device that will take quite a long time to complete," he said.
The finance ministry's move, however, marks the first time the government has initiated such an action against China since both nations entered the WTO.
"The finance ministry's initial inspections found that China's towel imports did constitute dumping and impaired Taiwan's [towel] industry," Chien Liang-chi (簡良機), director-general of the ministry's Department of Customs Administration, said yesterday.
Falling production
Statistics compiled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs show that Taiwan's towel production dropped to 770,000kg last year from 1.1 million kg in 2001.
The finance ministry that said it decided to consider imposing anti-dumping tariffs instead of import-relief measures because it would take longer to finalize the relief appeal and the government would still have to negotiate with China on limiting imports.
June deadline
Regulations require the government to announce within 110 days -- in this case June 20 -- whether it will impose a provisional anti-dumping duty on China-made towels, on top of the current tariffs of 10.5 percent, Chien said.
The government is then allowed another 100 days to re-confirm its anti-dumping action before it has to announce its final anti-dumping duty rate, which means the final announcement is expected in late September.
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