Behind US anti-dumping on China-made color TV looms Japanese electronic giants

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Behind US anti-dumping on China-made color TV looms Japanese electronic giants

In recent years, there appeared some trade frictions between China and the United States, of which some unfair treatment were quite obvious.

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In recent years, there appeared some trade frictions between China and the United States, of which some unfair treatment were quite obvious. Not long before the US Department of Commerce announced zero tariff for five Chinese concentrated apple juice enterprise' exports in the future and an average tax rate lowered to 3.83 percent for another four and the five-year-long suit costing several tens of million yuan finally won in the case, there came the news that the unknown US Five Rivers Electronic Company and two trade union organizations in color TV industry filed complaints to US International Trade Commission and US Department of Commerce against color TVs from China and Malaysia.

The main products involved in the lawsuit are color televisions of 21 inches or above including ordinary CRT (cathode ray tube) color TV, high-definition digital color TV and rear projector color TV. The investigation on the case lasted from 1 October 2002 to 31 March 2003. Relevant statistics showed that in 2002 over three million color televisions were involved in the cases of China's export to the United States worth of nearly US$ 500 million. During the investigation in the later half of 2002, the value exceeded US$300 million.

The complainants requested for a compulsory tariff as high as 84 percent on color televisions from China. On 7 May 2003, US International Trade Commission put the case on file and the US Department of Commerce did so on May 23. On June 16, US International Trade Commission made a confirmatory judgment on whether China's color televisions effected damage on the US color TV industry and after that started investigation on the degree of dumping. On the afternoon of 24 (East US Time) November 2003, the US Department of Commerce released the preliminary ruling on the anti-dumping investigation on China's color televisions and determined the dumping tax rate as: CHANGHONG 45.87 percent, XOCECO 31.70 percent, TCL 31.35 percent and KONKA 78.45 percent and the figure of the nation at large 78.45 percent. In addition, US Department of Commerce also confirmed the existence of emergency.

Since the case was incomparable in terms of legal problems involved and the industry, the anti-dumping officials of the US Department of Commerce had to admit that it was an extremely complicated case in terms of the law, accounting and technology and postponed the final judgment of the case. Till then, the biggest trade row between China and the United States in over 20 years has approached to the final stage.

However, the origin and investigation process have always been confusing for the insiders: the United States has stopped producing CRT (cathode ray tube) color TV, the US Five River Electronic Company is in fact a small woodwork and color TV assembly factory and China's color televisions do not have direct competition with US color TV industry. Why suddenly, an anti-dumping war made it hard for China-made color televisions to edge even an inch forward in the United States?

Right before the release of the judgment on the color TV war, reliable information the reporter received from Washington was: the maneuvers behind were Japanese color TV giants including SONY, PANASONIC, SANYO, TOSHIBA and ORTON etc. who, from the very beginning of the "anti-dumping case", provided applicants with wholehearted support from information, statistics to technology. These Japanese companies offered on one hand support to the complainants, and on the other expressed time and again that they had no connection with the case and even constantly noted that they did not support the complainants. Their self-contradiction was indeed confusing.

US International Trade Commission will soon make the final judgment on the case and will collect evidences from the Japanese color TV giants including those mentioned above by way of questionnaire. Analyses by a few world famous experts in anti-dumping are, serious negative impact will be posed on China's side as long as Japanese companies did not give answer to the questionnaire, or did not express their stance or played on word in the answer sheet. The US Department of Commerce held that the emergency that China's color TV is "dumping" into the United Sates does exist, then China, while abiding by international rules and suffering unfair treatment, which would threaten jobs of several tens of million electronic manufacturing workers in danger, would incur real "emergency" in China's electronic industry.

Representatives of Japanese color TV companies promised more than once to China's color TV industry that they would not help the US complainants. They also expressed many a time to the Chinese government their hope to establish healthy trade cooperative relations with China, they also expressed their good wishes that China's color TV industry win the case. However, if at the critical point, they do not make reply to the questionnaire from the US International Trade Commission, or do not clarify the stance, or play with word in the answer sheet, then Japan's "sincerity" would not been seen by the wounded color TV industry of China. Analysts in Washington held that Japanese color TV giants were contradicting in their words and deeds, the root is that they worried their interest in China would be marred. On the one hand they do not want to lose the huge market of China yet on the other they do hope China will lose the so-called color TV "anti-dumping case" so that Japan's products can enter the US market. This kind of intention to win both China and US markets without hurting Chinese government and China's color TV industry is too ignominious and indecent. Therefore, Japan could not but say one thing in the face of people yet do the otherwise behind the back.

To this Chinese officials and personages to the Untied States have made consultations with representatives of Japanese companies concerned to the United States in the hope to well ease the trade disputes through negotiation. If those Japanese color TV companies abide by the promise made in public, really value China's huge market and are willing to establish good trade cooperative relations with their Chinese counterparts, they should express their sincerity at crucial moment, take action but not hurt China's tens of millions of electronic workers nor do things that hurt Chinese and US consumers.

By People's Daily Online

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