China urges US courts to treat Sany’s Obama lawsuit ‘fairly, publicly’

By Chen Yang Source:Global Times Published: 2012-10-20 1:05:03

China hopes US courts will be fair in their handling of a Chinese company's lawsuit that was filed against US President Barack Obama for blocking its investments, and has urged Washington to deal with a series of bilateral disputes through negotiations, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said Friday.

The ministry is greatly concerned about the US ban on investment from China's largest machinery maker the Sany Group, MOFCOM spokesman Shen Danyang told a press briefing in Beijing.

On September 28, Obama ordered Ralls Corp, a US company owned by two Sany executives, to divest its interests in wind farm projects near a naval training facility in Oregon, citing national security concerns. Ralls filed a lawsuit against Obama for blocking its investment in the US earlier this month.

"It is not the first time the US government has blocked investment from Chinese companies citing national security concerns, and such moves will affect Chinese companies' enthusiasm for investing in the US," Shen said.

China's outbound direct investment to the US rose by 14.3 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2012, far lower than the growth rate of investment in Russia, Japan and Southeast Asian countries during the same period, data from the MOFCOM showed.

"The ministry will follow the development of the case closely. We hope the US judicial departments will handle the lawsuit fairly, justly and publicly," Shen said.

With the approach of the US presidential election, there have been increasing frictions between China and the US. A US congressional investigation report published on October 8 claimed two Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE were potential security threats and suggested the US government not use any equipment from the two companies.

Huawei and ZTE dismissed the allegations as "unfair" and "impeding competition."

"There are a few US politicians gossiping about Sino-US economic relations. We hope the US side will refrain from politicizing economic issues and return to the right track as soon as possible," Shen said.

"The US lacks strategic trust with China, and that could explain why the US allows other countries' wind farms to be built near the military facility but bans Sany's projects," said He Weiwen, co-director of the China-US-EU Study Center under the China Association of International Trade.

Tu Xinquan, associate director of the China Institute for WTO Studies, told the Global Times Friday that China can hit back by reinforcing scrutiny over US companies, but the aim is to bring the US back to the negotiation mechanism rather than hurt bilateral relations.  

"Chinese authorities have focused much on developing bilateral economic relations and neglected the country's own national security issues, so now it is time for China to strengthen security investigations into US companies," Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, told the Global Times Friday.

Separately, a final ruling by the WTO Appellate Body on Thursday barred China from imposing duties on certain US steel exports.

China will seriously review the report, and will properly deal with the case in accordance with the WTO regulations, the MOFCOM said in a statement.



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