EU pushes ahead with WTO cases against China over Lithuania coercion and hi-tech licences
- Both sides failed to resolve trade disputes during lengthy bilateral talks
- EU requests for WTO panels to be heard on December 20
The European Union is to push on to the panel stage of two World Trade Organization suits against China, after failing to resolve the issues during bilateral talks.
In the second dispute, the EU claims China is using domestic courts to undermine intellectual property laws, thereby allowing Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi and other telecoms giants to secure cut-price technology licences.
“Our preference was to solve these two significant and systemic cases in a consultation process and we have invested a considerable amount of time in doing so. However, this was to no avail. We are therefore left with no choice but to request the establishment of these WTO panels,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU’s Commissioner for Trade.
The Lithuania case centres on an alleged unofficial trade embargo following the opening of a controversially named Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius.