China criticized a Nov. 14 U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report that called for more export controls against China and more support for Taiwan, saying the commission’s report is inaccurate. “The committee you mentioned is deeply entrenched in prejudice against China. Its reports are rarely based on facts,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Nov. 15. “I have no interest in commenting.” The report also provided details on “harassment” tactics employed by China against U.S. companies, including unannounced site investigations and unwarranted tax investigations (see 1911140050).
China said it opposes sanctions against Iran days after a German official suggested Europe should consider reimposing sanctions against the country for its breaches of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “It is China's consistent position that wanton use or threat of sanctions is neither constructive nor helpful to solve any problem,” a China Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Nov. 14. “Dialogue and negotiation is the real way out.”
India will import 100,000 tons of onions in an effort to curb rising domestic onion prices, India’s Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said in a Nov. 9 statement on Twitter. The onions will be imported for distribution from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15, according to an unofficial translation of the statement. The move was directly caused by the spike in onion prices, which “have been rising for weeks,” the India Tribune said in a Nov. 7 report. To increase imports, India will relax several measures, including a condition for fumigation and endorsement of the products’ phytosanitary certificate, the report said. The onions will be fumigated in India by the importer “through an accredited treatment provider.”
China and Greece will improve ties in an agreement that includes provisions on increased trade and customs facilitation, China’s State Council said Nov. 12. The statement calls for improved “customs trade security and facilitation cooperation,” according to an unofficial translation, and encourages “air transport companies to open more flights between China and Greece.” The two sides will also coordinate on “agricultural policy,” China said, including increased Chinese imports of agricultural goods.
Japan and South Korea will hold a second round of World Trade Organization consultations on Nov. 19, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Nov. 8. The two countries will meet in Geneva to discuss their ongoing trade dispute, which stems from Japan’s July decision to restrict exports of three chemicals used to make high-tech goods such as smartphones and semiconductors (see 1907010020). South Korea followed with its own set of export restrictions in August (see 1908120036). The first WTO meeting took place Oct. 11 (see 1910100043).
Singapore Customs fined a man more than $72,000 for suppressing the import values of cell phone parts in an attempt to avoid import taxes, Singapore said in a Nov. 6 press release. Jimmy Ong, a partner of Quality Comm LP, a mobile phone repair company, was charged with 48 counts of fraudulent evasion of Singapore’s Goods and Services Tax, the press release said. He pleaded guilty to 16 of the charges. Singapore Customs discovered the scheme in 2018 when they inspected boxes consigned to Ong at the Changi Airfreight Centre, the agency said. Authorities said Ong falsified the value of the goods by labeling the 542 phone parts as worth less than $400 when they were actually worth almost $8,000. Ong imported the parts from Chinese suppliers 48 times between 2015 and 2018, Singapore said, resulting in more than $14,000 worth of evaded import taxes.
Cambodia recently extended its online certificate-of-origin system to three additional border provinces on a pilot basis, according to a Nov. 7 Hong Kong Trade Development Council report. The system was extended to Koh Kong, which borders Thailand, and Takeo and Kampot, which border Vietnam, the report said. The system allows businesses to apply and print a certificate of origin online through their local commerce department, HKTDC said, and is already in place for at least 10 other provinces.
China recently clarified upcoming procedures for obtaining export value-added tax refunds, according to a Nov. 7 post from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. China specified that general VAT taxpayers may claim tax credits or export VAT refunds through the online “VAT invoice confirmation platform of their home province,” the report said. VAT payers with a Customs Bill of Payment “with information relating to multiple VAT payers” should first upload all documentation “for verification by the tax authorities," HKTDC said. The procedures are scheduled to take effect Feb. 1, 2020.
Vietnam’s Quang Ninh province is considering a proposal to suspend “temporary imports for re-exports” of certain foreign cigarettes and liquor, VietnamCustoms said in a Nov. 4 report from Customs News, the agency’s mouthpiece. The measure would impact imports of “non-Vietnamese origin” cigarettes and foreign whiskey, the report said, and was introduced to combat smuggling schemes and attempts to “illegally access the domestic market.” The proposal would also “suspend the operation of bonded warehouses” for foreign cigarettes and whiskey, Vietnam said. The proposal was recently approved by the country’s defense and finance ministries and is being considered by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the report said.
China and Thailand agreed on several measures to increase trade, including an enhanced railway system and improved cooperation in agricultural trade, according to a Nov. 5 report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. The two sides agreed to “expand cooperation in agricultural trade” and e-commerce as well as in auto, medical equipment and rubber sectors, the report said. The countries also plan to build the China-Thailand railway “into a successful example in bilateral cooperation” and “speed up the implementation of the railway project.”