A senior Chinese official rejected US government complaints about Beijing's clean-energy subsidies Sunday night by saying the appropriations are miniscule, China Security News reported.
1 [3 I. ?( i' ~/ I: ~" | The US government said Friday it would investigate complaints by the United Steelworkers union that Beijing unfairly subsidizes its wind and solar equipment manufacturers by offering cheap land and low-cost loans, a move benefiting its export industries. "Chinese subsidies to new energy companies are much smaller than those of the US government. The United States had subsidized new energy enterprises with $4.6 billion in cash in the first nine months of 2010, including $3 billion to wind power enterprises," Zhang Guobao, deputy director of China's National Development and Reform Commission and head of the National Energy Bureau, was quoted by the newspaper as saying. "If the US government can subsidize companies, then why can't we?"4 j0 ^6 I9 \% j/ m
China has been aggressively promoting nuclear, wind, solar and other renewable energies to meet its own surging electricity needs. The government also hopes the sector will serve as a new growth engine for the nation amid global economic uncertainty.) V( K* F( R0 E
But many foreign officials have criticized the government subisdies as unfair for foreign competitors as many new-energy producers in the United States and Europe have cut jobs or moved operations to China in order to survive financially.
- R2 n/ N# W1 T Zhang called on the two countries to open a dialogue on the issue, while Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, urged cooperation in this "promising sector" and "creating a win-win situation commercially."% h" B/ E% ~: b( `
The 850,000-member United Steelworkers union represents steel workers in a wide range of energy-related jobs, including manufacturers of wind-turbine towers, solar panels and other clean-energy equipment. |