Hi Joel, the word "odd" comes to mind.
My father-in-law, amongst all his hobbies, is in a farming deal with a Japanese trading company, growing horse radishes in Fujian province (with Chinese navy farm) for export to Japan. Part of the investment was contributed by the Japanese trading company (one of top five), along with agricultural and processing expertise. The Japanese want the veggies to measure precisely, and look good; you know, long, thick, round and luscious looking, like those shown in their naughty movies. There are many such operations done with Japanese, for mushrooms, etc.
The Japanese government is of course concerned about China, its economic growth, and its relationship to Japan, in Asia, etc, and is concerned for its own farmers. So, we have protectionist restrictions put on mushrooms and radishes.
The Chinese government want to encourage more Japanese investment in China, of the manufacturing variety. The Japanese has been slower than many, due to shyness, concern about the future, and such. But, by and by, factories are established in China and closed in Japan.
The Chinese government also want to encourage formation of Chinese national brands and domestic companies such as Haier for aircon and appliances, as well as manufacturers of cosmetics, chemicals, etc etc.
Slapping on import tariffs out of blue is not kosher, per WTO. Tariffs in retaliation during course of trade war is more acceptable, and such tariffs serve to encourage both Japanese inward investment in China and formation of Chinese enterprises, and so, slap them on.
If the war drags on a bit, the Japanese equity in Chinese farm deals would be available for sale at discount to the Chinese partners, and I suppose the Chinese can learn how to eat mushrooms and radishes meant for Japanese consumers.
As an aside, the processors in Fujian do rip off my in-law in that they tend to shave the skin off the radishes, as specified, but thicker than specified. The skin shavings is made into premium pickles preferred by the Chinese. The Japanese prefer the radish meat for pickling.
Trade, everybody gains:0)
The present acrimony has much more to do with dead war criminals and shrine visitors than trade. The trade disputes have arisen in the past, but without the acrimony.
I believe they (Louisiana folks) are complaining about Chinese crayfish import into the US, not realizing that Chinese do not eat crayfish and the largest deal (in Sichuan province) is invested by US interest, including an ex-governor of that state (I met on the plane in passing, do not remember the name).
Chugs, Jay
breakingnews.scmp.com
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Friday, June 22, 2001
4:15 am (GMT+8)
China slaps on 100 pct duties as Japan trade row deepens
China said on Thursday it will slap 100 percent punitive tariffs on imports of Japanese vehicles, mobile phones and air conditioners, deepening a trade row between the two countries.
Beijing's move, which takes effect on Friday, was "in response to Japan's discriminatory treatment of some Chinese export products", the official Xinhua news agency said.
China's State Council, or cabinet, had decided to subject 60 varieties of products from the three classes of goods to 100 percent tariff rates, including cars, sports utility vehicles, buses and trucks, the report said.
Analysts have estimated the value of the goods that China is targeting at about $700 million last year.
In Tokyo, a top trade ministry official said the tariffs violated both bilateral and international trade agreements and Kyodo news agency said Japan's government would ask China to begin bilateral talks on the issue.
"If taken, the Chinese measure would violate the (1974) Sino-Japanese trade accord and World Trade Organisation agreements," Japan's vice-minister of economy, trade and industry Katsusada Hirose told a news conference.
China and Japan have been locked in a festering trade row since April, when Tokyo imposed import curbs on cheap Chinese agricultural goods in a bid to help Japanese farmers.
SAFEGUARD OR PROTECTIONISM
Japan says it imposed temporary "safeguard" curbs under World Trade Organisation rules, which preclude retaliation, on Chinese shiitake mushrooms, spring onions and rushes for tatami mats to protect domestic industries from cheap imports.
China disputes that, calling the move trade protectionism.
"The Japanese government has adopted unfair limits on export goods from China," Xinhua quoted the cabinet's tariff policy commission as saying.
"This activity has constituted discriminatory treatment of export goods from China and incurred serious damage on export of products and relevant domestic industries of China," it said.
China warned on Monday it planned to impose the tariffs, but only set the levels and date of implementation on Thursday.
Japan's Hirose said earlier on Thursday that Tokyo was seeking talks on the trade dispute.
Japan would consider more import curbs on items from China if requested by domestic industries, he said. Japanese makers of bicycles, chopsticks, towels, neckties and socks have also complained about cheap Chinese imports.
China's top trade negotiator Long Yongtu has also accused Japan of protectionism.
China is willing to talk to Japan to resolve the dispute, a Foreign Trade Ministry official said on Thursday, but could not say when talks might be held.
"Nobody wants to see a trade war. We hope to resolve this through consultations," said an official at the ministry, who declined to be named.
DIPLOMATIC TENSIONS
The trade dispute comes as diplomatic tensions flare over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's plans to visit a controversial war shrine, which has drawn criticism from China and the two Koreas.
Beijing has warned Koizumi repeatedly not to pay homage at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to Japan's 2.6 million war dead since the 19th century, including Class-A war criminals such as wartime prime minister Hideki Tojo.
Koizumi has said he will visit the shrine on August 15, the day Japan surrendered in World War Two.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said on Thursday the visit would draw Asia's wrath.
"The Japanese government should consider seriously how a visit to Yasukuni Shrine will hurt the feelings of people in Asia," Zhang said.
A visit to the shrine would "inevitably provoke strong indignation from the people of countries which suffered Japanese aggression", she told a news conference.
Tokyo's approval of history textbooks, which critics say whitewash its wartime atrocities, has also strained ties with China as well as South Korea.
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