Beijing yesterday criticized Canada's move to launch a dual probe into oil and gas well casings from China.

The Canadian government is going ahead with its anti-dumping and countervailing investigation into Chinese carbon or alloy steel oil and gas well casings when the complaint lacks legal and factual evidence, said Wang Xinpei, Ministry of Commerce spokesperson.

Wang said Canada is regarding China as a "non-market economy" in the case, which could put it at a disadvantage. Canada will compare China's costs with those of other non-market economies to determine whether there is dumping.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) kicked off a dual investigation into oil and gas well casings from China on Monday after a complaint was filed by TenarisAlgomaTubes Inc of Calgary.

The company claimed certain imports from China "are harming Canadian production by causing lost sales, price erosion, price suppression, lost revenues, reduced profitability, lost employment, underutilization of capacity and impairment to make future investments".

Wang said Canada was the first country to launch a countervailing investigation into products made in China in 2004 and it has since initiated five dual probes into Chinese goods.

"Such frequent countervailing investigations on Chinese products by the Canadian government are conveying the wrong message to its industry and other World Trade Organization members," Wang said. "And it is expected to have a negative impact on the development of bilateral trade."

China urges the Canadian government to conduct trade remedy investigations that abide by international trade rules and its law, Wang said.

He said China reserves the right to seek WTO dispute settlement.

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal is expected to make a decision on whether the imports are harming Canadian producers on October 12. The CBSA will investigate whether Chinese products are being dumped or subsidized and will make a decision by November 9.

Wang also criticized the US government for launching investigations into Chinese products such as coated paper and steel pipes from November to July. The US probes affect 635 firms and 70,000 jobs in China with total exports of US$860 million.

(China Daily August 17, 2007)