China rebukes US for solar complaints

China issued a statement Friday harshly criticizing an anti-dumping complaint filed by seven US solar power equipment manufacturers, which asked the US government to impose duties of over 100% on Chinese solar imports, Reuters reported. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce published a criticism on its website warning the US government that implementing the duties would “cast a shadow over the world economic recovery.” The US industry group, which calls itself the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, rejected the criticism in a statement: “The aggressive dumping as well as massive illegal subsidies from the Chinese government have cost the US industry thousands of jobs … and have forced more than seven companies to close or downsize in the past 18 months.” China also rejected this last claim, citing a report by another US solar industry organization that said the value of US solar cell equipment and raw material exports to China far surpassed imports from China, to the tune of a US$1.9 billion surplus.