  To counter the European Union which is contemplating anti-dumping cases against Chinese telecom equipment makers like Huawei and ZTE, China on Wednesday hit back by saying that it has sufficient evidence to suggest that EU is providing illegal subsidies to certain industries, according to local media reports.
According to state run China Daily, Beijing is investigating if the EU is actually illegally subsidising its industries like agriculture, telecom equipment, wind energy, electrical and mechanical goods.
Financial Times on Monday had said that two major Chinese telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE are set to face probe by European Union (E) scanner for benefiting from illegal government subsidies.
The newspaper quoting EU officials and executives said that the member states have been informed that it is colleting evidence for an anti-dumping case against these companies.
The newspaper said that once the EU determined that China was acting illegally, Huawei and ZTE, the world's No.2 and No.5 telecom equipment makers, could be subject to punitive EU tariffs.
An official from the Ministry of Commerce told China Daily that China has not got any official confirmation from the EU on the matter.
"If the report is correct, China will not put up with such trade protectionism," the official said.
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd on Tuesday denied that it benefited from illegal Chinese government subsidies saying that it did not receive any communication from European Commission.
"We deny claims made in the media that Huawei employs dumping practices and has benefited from illegal state subsidies. Huawei also objects to the investigation that the European Commission is reportedly launching on the basis of these claims”, Huawei said in a statement.
The company also said that it did not receive any communication from the European Commission regarding an investigation, and that it was aware of media reports on this matter. |