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China Lifts Ban on ROK Products After Garlic Agreement
China announced Wednesday the lifting of its two-month ban on import of mobile phones (including vehicular mobile sets) and polyethylene from the Republic of Korea (ROK) after the two countries reached an agreement on garlic trade.
The decision was made as the ROK side has substantially revised its high-tariff measures against Chinese garlic, said Hu Chusheng, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Under the agreement two sides signed on Monday, the ROK will import 32,000 tons of Chinese garlic at low tariffs this year, and the amount will grow by 5.25 percent annually within a term of three years, said the spokesman.
The two countries exchanged a note today, confirming that the agreement enters into force, Hu said.
China announced suspension of the import of ROK mobile telephones (including vehicular mobile sets) and polyethylene on June 7 after the ROK decided to impose a high tariff of 315 percent on Chinese garlic on June 1.
This unilateral measure seriously obstructed China's garlic export and affected the normal development of bilateral trade, from which China had sustained huge amount of deficits for a long time, the spokesman said.
Hu stressed that the Chinese government has always highly valued its trade and economic cooperative relations with the ROK and has made vigorous efforts to that end.
"We hope that the settlement of the garlic issue will help promote cooperation and mutual understanding for a balanced and healthy development of two-way trade," he said.
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