EUROPE

China protests EU first anti-subsidy duties on Chinese goodsBEIJING， May 14 — China opposes the European Union’s decision to impose its first-ever anti-subsidy and antidumping duties on imports from China， said Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesman Yao Jian on Saturday.Yao made the remarks in a statement on the MOC website after the EU announced its anti-subsidy and antidumping duties on Chinese coated fine paper — used for high-quality printing.The EU has violated the World Trade Organization(WTO) rules by imposing both anti-subsidy and anti-dumping trade remedies on the same goods， Yao said.The Chinese government and enterprises provided much evidence to show the coated fine paper industry in China is a competitive one where market economy principles are applied and the government never intervened in company operations or goods pricing， Yao said.The EU ruling contravened many WTO rules and seriously impaired the interests of Chinese enterprises， Yao said.China and the EU should oppose trade protection， avoid abuses of trade remedies and properly tackle trade frictions through negotiations， Yao said.China will carefully study and evaluate the final ruling and reserve its right to take legal action accordingly to protect the interests of Chinese enterprises， Yao said.The anti-subsidy duties will range from about 4 percent to 12 percent and the anti-dumping tariffs will range from 8 percent to 35.1 percent.The dual duties would last for the next five years and could be extended if the expiry leads to a recurrence of injury to the European paper industry， the European Commission said.The EU launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of Chinese coated fine paper in February 2010， followed by an anti-subsidy investigation two months later.(Xinhua)Latest China-EU trade frictions not trade war: officialBEIJING， May 17 — The latest trade frictions between China and the European Union (EU) do not amount to a trade war， said Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesman Yao Jian on Tuesday.It’s not surprising for China and the EU to have trade disputes as the two sides have maintained large trade volumes over the past years， said Yao at a routine press release.“For some products， there might be a lasting legal disputes. But the total dispute ratio will be very low between 1 to 3 percent，” he said.Yao’s remarks came after the EU slapped its first-ever antisubsidy and anti-dumping duties on coated fine paper imported from China and China found that EU members had subsidized domestic production of potato starch exported to China.Yao reiterated China’s protest against the EU’s anti-subsidy decision on coated fine paper and questioned its practices to use evidence from a substitute country and reject information from Chinese enterprises.As for the country’s investigation into the potato starch from the EU， he explained that it was at the request of the China Starch Industry， which represents 98 percent of the industry’s output.“The investigation， which lasted two and a half months， was in line with China’s laws and WTO rules. We also adopted data from the EU enterprises，” he added.The country said in an initial ruling that it will impose an anti-subsidy provision of the tariff on potato starch products imported from the EU effective from May 19， according to the MOC. (Xinhua)EU-China green co-op working well: EU officialEuropean Union (EU) and China share similar views over the development of green economy and cooperation of the two sides in this field is working well， said an EU senior official on May 24.China has recognized the significance of the green orientation of its economy， which is not only necessary， but also could be “profitable”， European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potocnik told Xinhua on the opening ceremony of EU’s 11th Green Week.The year 2011 is the first year of implementation of both the “Europe 2020” Strategy and the China’s 12th Five-Year Plan， which are equally concerned about environmental issues and set long-term sustainable growth targets.The Chinese 12th Five-Year Plan stresses the need to reduce the environmental costs of development and calls for building a resource-efficient and environment-friendly society. Similarly， the Europe 2020 Strategy aims at encouraging a shift towards a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy.“There are many things on which we believe that we can share our views. We very much cooperate inside all the international conventions， I have pretty regular meetings with representatives of the Chinese government and I could say this relation is working really well，” continued Potocnik.Europe set specific targets in terms of energy production， efficiency and consumption， which would reduce 60 billion euros ($84.6 billion) worth of oil and gas imports by 2020. The Chinese 12th Five Year Plan also set concrete objectives， such as raising the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to 11.4 percent and introducing an environment-based evaluation system.“China has understood there is a need for an efficiency revolution，” commented Professor Ernst von Weizsacker， a member of the United Nations Environment Program(UNEP) International Resources Panel.The 11th Green Week， the biggest annual conference on European environment policy， would last till Friday. (Xinhua)Sino-Russian crude oil refinery to start construction in north ChinaTIANJIN， May 22 — The construction of a SinoRussian crude oil refinery is expected to start in the northern ndustrial city of Tianjin in the second half of the year， local officials said.Oriental Refinery， the joint venture with an investment of 30 billion yuan (4.62 billion U.S. dollars)， was co-funded by PetroChina Company Limited and Russia’s Rosneft. It is designed to process 13 million tonnes of crude oil every year.“The project is a priority for construction. We hope it can start operation by 2015，” said Wang Junming， general manager of the Nangang industrial zone development firm， where the project is located.The Sino-Russian refinery is expected to generate an annual revenue of 60 billion yuan once operation commences.Wang said the authorities aim to build a complete industrial chain from oil refining to petrochemical engineering n the zone.In Tianjin， Sinopec is operating a 10-million-tonnes/ year refinery， which has ethylene production capacity of 1 million tonnes/year and is building a crude oil storage depot. PetroChina’s crude oil storage depot， with capacity of 1 milion tonnes， went into operation in 2010. (Xinhua)Italy’s economy stir concern across ChinaBEIJING - The lower outlook for Italy’s sovereign debt triggered wide concern across China as it could add uncertainty to the bumpy recovery of Europe， the country’s largest trading partner. However.， some analysts said the concerns are unnecessary.Zhuang Jian， senior economist at the Asian Development Bank， told China Daily that because Italy is a major eurozone economy， its downgraded outlook could negatively affect views of the economic situation of Europe as a whole， and affect China’s exports to some extent.However， it is still too early to assess clearly， Zhang said.“Although it may add to concern about the region， there will be no crisis because key global institutions， such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF)， have already evaluated the European sovereign debt problem and prepared plans to deal with possible risks.”Standard Poor’s， a prominent rating agency， downgraded the outlook on Italy’s government debt from stable to negative on May 21， mainly because of concern that the government may struggle to cut the country’s vast public deficit.The downgrade indicates there is a one-in-three chance that Italy’s credit rating will be downgraded in the next 24 months， it said.“In our view， Italy’s current growth prospects are weak， and the political commitment for productivity-enhancing reforms appears to be faltering， and potential political gridlock could contribute to fiscal slippage，” Standard Poor’s credit analyst Eileen Zhang said. “As a result， we believe Italy’s prospects for reducing its general government debt have diminished.”The move stirred more concerns about European sovereign debt shortly after the eurozone countries approved a 78 billion euro ($110 billion) bailout - with a contribution from the IMF - for Portugal on May 16. Portugal is the third victim of the sovereign debt crisis after Greece and Ireland. Some countries were concerned that the crisis would spread from Greece， Ireland， Portugal， and Spain to the region’s major economies.But according to Dong Xian’an， chief economist at Peking First Advisory， SP’s decision is groundless， and Italy has been on the track for recovery since the second quarter， while the economic growth of the United States and Europe has slowed.He said that the judgment of rating companies is not reliable and there is no reason to worry about Italy. “Instead， the ongoing overtightening measures of China’s central bank are likely to hurt the global economy， including Italy and all of Europe， in the future， and that would in turn make the world’s second-largest economy suffer，” he said.Giulio Tremonti， Italy’s finance minister， characterized SP’s move as “strange”. He said the decision was made without “even one example of a decline in the economy or public finances to justify downgrading the forecast”.The European Commission， the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) had made “very different” appraisals of the condition of the country’s financial health， according to the Italian Treasury.The third-largest eurozone economy won’t return to its pre-recession level for at least another two years， the OECD said in a report.Italy has one of the highest levels of public debt in the world - 120 percent of GDP - but has succeeded in reducing its deficit， according to Agence France-Presse.In April， the Italian government cut its forecast for economic growth in 2011 to 1.1 percent from previous estimates of 1.3 percent， and to 1.3 percent in 2012 from 2 percent.(China Daily)Sino-German JV in Tungsten processing plannedH.C. Starck， the world’s leading refractory metals and advanced ceramics supplier based in Germany， will build two joint ventures in the city of Ganzhou of eastern China’s Jiangxi province.According to an agreement between the German company and Jiangxi Rare Earth Rare Metals Tungsten Group Holding Co， Ltd (JXTC)， the two joint ventures will engage in intensive processing of tungsten and manufacturing of related products.Cost of the two joint ventures is estimated at 80 million euros ($112 million). They will annually produce around 30，000 tons of fine tungsten products beginning 2012. The products will be mainly offered on Asian markets.This will be the biggest investment project H.C. Starck launches in China. (Xinhua)