Chinese shoemakers on Thursday reiterated their resolute opposition to European Union anti-dumping duties, pledging further efforts to protect their interests.

The alliance of Chinese shoemakers against the anti-dumping move, comprising many Chinese footwear enterprises, said it is firmly against the sanctions levied upon Chinese-made leather shoes, although the decision was made when EU member states were reported to be split in a vote over the punitive duties on March 16.

The European Commission (EC) announced last week that it would place anti-dumping duties on leather shoes from China and Vietnam, despite the fact that only three countries voted in favor of the tariffs, ten voted against and 11 abstained.

The duties on Chinese shoes will start at about 4 percent from April 7 and rise to 19.4 percent in six months.

However, children's shoes and high-tech sports shoes will be excluded from the tariffs.

The alliance said it disagrees with the EC's decision to treat Chinese shoemakers as state-nurtured companies and not freely competing market players, and the conclusion that the EU's footwear industry has suffered losses due to imports of Chinese footwear.

The alliance also stressed that the EC has no grounds to attribute the predicament of some EU companies to the imports of Chinese shoes, and the proposed anti-dumping sanction lacks fairness and legitimacy.

The Chinese alliance said it has selected 15 member companies to form an executive committee to carry out further steps against the anti-dumping move, including inviting European lawyers, economic consultants and investigation organizations to search for evidence in favor of Chinese shoemakers.

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2005)