BEIJING, June 13: China is drafting guidelines covering textile export quotas after the signing of a deal with the EU to defuse a trade row straining ties, state media reported on Monday. “Officials with the ministry of commerce have confirmed that the guidelines are being drafted,” Xinhua news agency said, citing ministry officials.

“The new guidelines will work like a quota distribution system and will balance the needs of textile enterprises all over the country,” said Wang Yu, secretary-general of the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Textiles.

The China Business News said the ministry would this week hold a meeting with textile groups to discuss the details of the system and how textile companies could self-regulate their exports.

No further details were provided.

After lengthy negotiations, China agreed late Friday to limit growth in exports of 10 textile and clothing products to the European Union to eight-12.5 percent a year. The deal covers the period from 2005-2007.

In return, the EU agreed to stop its investigation into Chinese exports of 10 textile products to Europe, including cotton cloth, T-shirt, flax yarn, bed sheets, table-cloth and trousers.

Since the end of a global system of textile quotas at the beginning of this year, Chinese textile exports to the EU and the US have surged.

While China and the EU have resolved their differences, China remains at loggerheads with the United States which has slapped import quotas on seven categories of Chinese textile goods.

In an editorial, the state-run China Daily Monday said the deal thrashed out by EU trade chief Peter Mandelson and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai proved consultation, not confrontation, worked.

“In an era of accelerated economic interdependence, it is consultation, not confrontation, that leads to solutions to trade standoffs which are in the interests of all sides,” the newspaper said.

“The latest deal China and the European Union have sealed, sets a good example for the international community which is increasingly threatened by some countries’ unilateral protectionist acts.”

Xinhua news agency has been more explicit in its critisism of the United States.—AFP