China to Fight Over REEs.
"Regarding WTO members' possible similar actions over China's rare earth policies, we're ready to respond at any time in line with WTO rules and procedures," Li Chenggang, the head of the ministry's legal and treaty department, told China's official Xinhua news agency.
China is ready to fight with America and Europe at the World Trade Organisation, if they file a rare earths complaint similar to the one China just lost in other raw materials. Despite losing, China apparently feels that with the REEs, China is on stronger ground. Though no such complaint has been filed, though Japan tested the water at last year’s WTO meeting in Switzerland, neither the EU nor America offered any support and Japan backed away from making a complaint alone, China’s Commerce Ministry seems to be making a pre-emptive strike to head off a new WTO complaint.
Even if a REE complaint gets filed, any resolution would be about two years away, about the time that Lynas’s newly authorised advanced materials plant in Malaysia, would be coming into full production. My guess is than any complaint won’t get filed until after the US presidential election in November, unless it becomes an issue in that election.
China ready to defend its rare earth polices at WTO
BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to respond to possible complaints over its rare earth export restrictions at the World Trade Organization, a Ministry of Commerce (MOC) official said Wednesday.
The remarks followed a WTO decision on Monday to uphold a ruling against China's export duties and export quotas on nine raw materials, which do not include rare earths.
However, concerns were raised that the latest ruling might lead to a similar case against the country's rare earth export policies, which have triggered contention between China and some of its trade partners.
"Regarding WTO members' possible similar actions over China's rare earth policies, we're ready to respond at any time in line with WTO rules and procedures," Li Chenggang, head of the MOC's legal and treaty department, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
The WTO's ruling in the raw material case "might have some reference value" for a possible rare earth case as the export management models of those resources are quite similar, Li said.
The United States, European Union and Mexico filed complaints to the WTO in 2009, claiming China's export restraints over nine raw materials, including zinc, coke and magnesium, pushed global prices high and benefited the country's domestic industry.
Li stressed that the WTO allows members to take necessary measures to protect resources and environment but only considers it fair if export restraints are accompanied by simultaneous restrictions over domestic production or consumption.
He noted that China's management of rare earths no longer merely features trade restrictions but relies more on regulation of domestic production and consumption.
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