China said Friday it had exercised its right to block a US-led request for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to set up a panel to rule on Chinese export curbs on certain raw materials.
"We do not think the export measures China took violated WTO rules," an official with the Chinese commerce ministry, who declined to be named, told AFP.
"It was a legitimate right (to reject the requests for the panel)," the official said.
The United States, joined by the European Union and Mexico, on November 5 asked the WTO to set up a dispute settlement panel to rule on the restrictions.
At a meeting of the WTO's dispute settlement body Thursday, the Chinese delegation said it was "not in a position to agree to the establishment of a panel at this time", the official Xinhua news agency reported.
According to US officials, China imposes quotas on exports of some materials and slaps export duties on several others.
Other limits come in the form of export procedures, including certain charges that violate global trade rules, they said.
The materials at issue were bauxite, coal, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon metal, silicon carbide, yellow phosphorus and zinc, they said.
China has defended the policies, claiming they were "to protect the environment and our limited resources" and part of the country's efforts "towards sustainable development".
Requesting a panel is the next step in the WTO dispute settlement process after consultations fail, Xinhua said.
According to procedures, a panel request can only be blocked once, and if the three complainants choose to make a second request at a later date, a panel would be set up automatically, it said.
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