Experts are divided over the possible direction of the Sino-Japan trade dispute in the face of the ambiguous Japanese move to impose high tariffs on salt imports.

Japan's finance ministry is considering imposing high tariffs on table and industrial salt imports to raise the price of imports to the same level as domestic salt prices, a Japanese newspaper reported on Sunday.

It would maintain the high tariffs for three years beginning next year when the market for salt imports is fully opened, said the paper.

The tariffs could escalate a heated trade dispute sparked by a decision in Tokyo to slap extra tariffs on certain farm goods, imported mainly from China, earlier this year, said experts.

Imports from China account for less than 1 percent of all table salt imported by Japan in the year to March, but the volume is expected to surge after the market is opened.

The refined table salt made by the seven Japanese companies is priced at 3,000-4,000 Japanese yen (US$24-32) per ton, higher than the Chinese equivalent.

Officials with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) said they are studying the Japanese report and declined to comment.

In response to the mid-term investigation data on China's towel exports that Japan released yesterday, MOFTEC spokeswoman Gao Yan warned Japan not to initiate new incidents to complicate the present situation.

"There are already some problems awaiting solution in Sino-Japanese bilateral trade and I hope Japan would not impose new restrictive measures on China's towel exports to complicate the issue," said Gao.

She said increases in China's towel exports to Japan is a result of close Sino-Japanese cooperation and is beneficial to both sides, and she urged the Japanese Government to accept the global trend of textile trade liberalization and properly deal with the issue.

China is closely watching Japan's safeguard measures targeting China's towel export and hopes the Japanese Government will take China's position into full consideration, she added.

Li Guanghui, a senior researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said he didn't expect the Japanese government to take further drastic measures.

"Sino-Japanese trade relations have already become sensitive as a result of the Japanese safeguard measures against some farm imports and what the Japanese government will likely do is to delay solving the issue till after the July election," Li told China Daily.

Li said he didn't expect Japan's high tariffs on salt imports to fuel the dispute either.

"Japan has learned a lesson from the farm products issue and the high tariffs are not targeted at China alone and are not discriminative," he said

(China Daily 07/17/2001)