TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1987
DORWARD ATTACKS U.S. TEXTILE BILL
* *
HONG KONG'S SENIOR REPRESENTATIVE IN THE UNITED STATES, MR BILL. DORWARD, TODAY (WEDNESDAY) ATTACKED THIS YEAR'S U.S. TEXTILE BILL, POINTING OUT THAT IT CONTRAVENED INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS AND POSED A SERIOUS THREAT TO HONG KONG.
SPEARING AT
A
ME PUTUT MAY OF THE AMRIT(AN
TIT ASSOCIATION.
FRANCISCO, MR DORWARD SAID THAT IF THE U.S. ENACTED WHAT HE CALLED A "CAVALIER ABROGATION OF INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS", THE CONSEQUENCES FOR WORLD TRADE WOULD BE MOST SERIOUS.
THE BILL, WHICH IS UNDER CONSIDERATION BY CONGRESS, WOULD PLACE PERMANENT GLOBAL QUOTAS ON TEXTILE, APPAREL AND NON-RUBBER FOOTWEAR IMPORTS AND WOULD ALLOW TEXTILE IMPORTS TO INCREASE BY ONLY ONE PER CENT EACH YEAR, WITH FOOTWEAR IMPORTS FROZEN AT 1986 LEVELS. MANY OF ITS FEATURES ARE SIMILAR ΤΟ THE JENKINS BILL OF 1985, ALTHOUGH NOT AS STRINGENT.
MR DORWARD SAID THE BILL HAD BEEN INTRODUCED DESPITE THE FACT THAT, RESPONDING TO THE CONTINUING PRESSURE FROM THE DOMESTIC TEXTILE AND APPAREL INDUSTRIES FOR GREATER PROTECTION, THE U.S. HAS PROGRESSIVELY TIGHTENED ITS RESTRICTIONS ON TEXTILE AND APPAREL IMPORTS.
"IN NEGOTIATING THE EXTENSION OF THE MULTI-FIBRE ARRANGEMENT (MFA) IN 1986, COVERAGE WAS EXTENDED TO INCLUDE PREVIOUSLY UNREGULATED FIBRES. AT THE SAME TIME THE U.S. GOVERNMENT RE-NEGOTIATED EXISTING BILATERAL TEXTILE AGREEMENTS WITH MAJOR SUPPLIERS, INCLUDING HONG KONG, ON THE MOST HIGHLY RESTRICTIVE TERMS IN THE HISTORY OF THE MFA", HE SAID.
MR DORWARD SAID IT WAS THE UNWAVERING POLICY OF THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT TO WORK FOR THE LIBERALISATION OF THE MFA, WHICH HE DESCRIBED AS AN "ANACHRONISTIC AND UNJUSTIFIED FORM OF INTERFERENCE IN THE CONDUCT OF A VERY SUBSTANTIAL SECTOR OF TRADE."
"THIS ATTITUDE IS NOT STRUCK FOR IDEALISTIC OR DOGMATIC REASONS, BUT IS BORN OF THE CONVICTION THAT THE ABERRATION IN THE CASE OF TEXTILES, WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN OF SO LONG LIFE, POSES A THREAT TO THE WHOLE FABRIC OF WORLD TRADE. IT IS A PERNICIOUS PRECEDENT, ECONOMICALLY UNJUSTIFIED AND POLITICALLY MYOPIC.
"IT DENIES A LARGE PART OF THE THIRD WORLD THE OPPORTUNITY ጥዑ GROW AND EXPAND IN A SECTOR OF INDUSTRY TO WHICH THEY CAN REASONABLY
SERVICE ASPIRE; AND THUS DENIES THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO
THEIR DEBTS AND INCREASE THEIR PURCHASES FROM THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, TO THE BENEFIT OF ALL," HE SAID.
/MR DORWARD