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China cuts auto import from Japan
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CHINA plans to cut car imports from Japan from June in retaliation for Tokyo's ban on imports of Chinese vegetables, according to a report on the People's Daily website.
Japan's agriculture minister Tsutomu Takebe said yesterday that China insisted it has the right to retaliate against Tokyo's temporary curbs on vegetable imports.
Takebe made the remarks following a meeting in Beijing on Monday between officials from the two sides.
But officials from China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation did not elaborate on the reported plan to cut auto imports from Japan, he said.
A weekend report by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper said, quoting Chinese foreign trade sources, that China planned to cut its quota on Japanese vehicle imports from June to October by 40-60 per cent from a year earlier.
It is reported that the reduction in the car import quota was made in retaliation for Japan's “safeguard” temporary import restrictions to protect domestic farmers.
The measures, enforced on April 23 under the World Trade Organization's “safeguard” mechanism, targeted imports of spring onions, shiitake mushrooms and tatami mat rushes, mainly from China.
China has already imposed some restrictions on imports from Japan by tightening the quarantine inspections on wooden cases from Japan.
Nissan, Japan's second biggest carmaker, exported 7,300 vehicles to China in January-April, up 221.7 per cent from a year earlier.
Japan exported 47,090 vehicles to China last year, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
Trade ministers from the two countries will discuss the issue of import restrictions when they meet at the APEC meeting of trade ministers to be held in Shanghai on June 6-7. (SD-Agencies)
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