BEIJING (AFP) — China Wednesday blasted an EU decision to slap hefty anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made screws and bolts and said it may take the issue to the World Trade Organisation.
"China's government and industry express strong dissatisfaction over this," Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.
"The Chinese side will study and evaluate this decision and reserves the right to appeal to the WTO."
In one of the biggest anti-dumping cases against China, the EU made a final decision Monday to slap levies on imports of some Chinese fasteners, according to EU documents.
The levies range from 26.5 percent to as high as 85 percent.
China is the world's largest producer of screws, bolts and washers and the European Union is its biggest market, taking 575 million euros (762 million dollars) worth of fasteners in 2007, according to the Jiaxing Association of Chinese Fastener Producers.
The row adds to bilateral tensions amid several recent anti-dumping decisions against China.
China last month retaliated after an initial EU decision to impose the anti-dumping duties on metal fasteners by launching its own anti-dumping probe into imports of screws and bolts made in the European Union.
"China feels that the investigation and final decision in this case contain a good many inconsistencies with WTO regulations and European Union anti-dumping laws," the Commerce Ministry spokesman's statement said.
"In the end, the decision was unfair and not transparent and marked by clear protectionist tendencies, doing great harm to the legitimate rights of China's fastener industry."
The dispute comes as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is in Europe seeking to mend fences after a series of disputes.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy angered Beijing by meeting the Dalai Lama in Poland in December.
China responded by cancelling a December summit with the European Union.
China opposes any foreign leaders meeting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leaders, whom it accuses of seeking independence for his Himalayan homeland.
At the time, France held the European Union's rotating presidency.
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