Business Group Doubts EU Probes into Chinese Wireless Modem

The three types of trade investigation into a single product have revealed the European Union's trade protectionism in the post-crisis era, said a representative from China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME) in response to the European Union's newly-launched countervailing probe into Chinese wireless modems.

After initiating anti-dumping and safeguard measure investigations into wireless wide-area networking (WWAN) modems imported from China, the European Union announced another anti-subsidy probe into these products on Sept. 16.

"The action marked the first time that a single Chinese product simultaneously came under three types of trade investigation by the European Union," China's Ministry of Commerce responded on the same day.

The new investigation will determine whether WWAN modems from China are "being subsidized and whether this subsidization has caused injury to the Union industry," the European Commission wrote in its Official Journal. The probe stems from an Aug. 2 complaint by Belgium's Option NV, which is the sole producer of wireless modems in the European Union and is also behind the dumping case.

"Option has said in its annual reports that its production of wireless modems is outsourced to China," said the CCCME. "In fact, the European Union has no real producers of wireless modems."

The CCCME as well as Chinese wireless modem producers have serious doubts over whether Option is qualified as a European producer and qualified to file complaint, the business group said.

Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said that China will take corresponding measures within the rules of the World Trade Organization in due time.

"The European Union's investigations will disrupt normal trade and hurt the interests of E.U. consumers. The move is also running counter to the deepening China-E.U. friendship," he added.