US embassy cable - 05ANKARA1109

UNCLAS ANKARA 001109 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EB/TPP/ABT - EHEARTNEY AND EUR/SE 
COMMERCE FOR ITA/OTEXA/MARIA D'ANDREA 
DEPT PASS USTR FOR LERRION 
TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, KTEX, TU, CH 
SUBJECT:  UPDATE ON TURKISH LIMITS ON CHINESE TEXTILE 
AND APPAREL IMPORTS 
 
Ref:  (A) Ankara 129 (B) Beijing 2518 
 
1. (SBU) Shortly after imposing surveillance and 
protective measures against 42 categories of Chinese 
textile and apparel imports in connection with section 
242 of the Working Party report, GOT and Chinese 
officials held consultations in Ankara in late January. 
Both the Chinese Ambassador to Turkey and FM Gul, who 
visited China in early February, told the press that 
the GOC hoped to avoid bilateral friction through 
dialogue.  Murat Yapici, the Foreign Trade 
Undersecretariat's (FTU) Deputy Director General for 
Imports, told us February 11 that the Chinese 
delegation objected strenuously to Turkey's action, but 
that the Turkish side had no intention of backing away 
from these measures.  However, Yapici disclosed that a 
number of Turkish importers with large Chinese 
procurement contracts were protesting FTU's action. 
 
2. (SBU) Yapici stressed that these measures were very 
different from the standard safeguard mechanism. 
Section 242 measures not only allow the Chinese to 
maintain market share, but also to increase their 
exports within prescribed limits.  Yapici said the GOC 
was concerned that: 1) other countries may follow 
Turkey's example in taking 242 measures; and 2) section 
242 may be interpreted in such a way as to reestablish 
a quota system against Chinese goods. 
 
3. (SBU) Econoff asked Yapici and, separately, 
Cemalettin Damlaci, FTU's Director General for the EU, 
whether Turkey had consulted with Brussels on section 
242 measures against China.  Yapici told us that the EU 
did not have any reaction to the measures. 
Damlaci responded that the customs union required 
Turkey to coordinate many external commercial policies, 
particularly third country quota and trade preferences, 
but not anti-dumping and related measures.  In fact, 
the EU and Turkey have imposed these measures against 
one another.  In a separate meeting with Econ Counselor 
and Econoff on February 11, Tevfik Mengu, FTU Director 
General for Agreements, commented that the 242 measures 
could create problems within the customs union with the 
strong possibility of Chinese textile transshipments to 
Turkey via EU countries.  Conversely, Ulrike Hauer, the 
Head of the Trade, Economy and Agriculture Section at 
the EC Delegation, told Econ Couns and Econoff in early 
February that it was "odd" within the customs union 
framework that the Turks had taken action against China 
without consulting with Brussels, but that the EC did 
not plan to raise this issue with the GOT at present. 
 
4. (U) As in previous meetings on this subject, FTU 
told us it was monitoring U.S. textile trade actions 
against China closely, and asked Econoff to continue to 
provide updates.  In particular, Yapici asked for 
further information on the legislative prospects on the 
draft Fair Wage, Competition, and Investment Act of 
2005 (Senate Bill 14), which aims to impose an 
additional duty on all imports from China unless the 
GOC revalues its currency. 
Edelman