China on Thursday rejected requests made by the United States, the European Union and Mexico to establish a WTO expert panel to investigate and rule on so-called Chinese restrictions of raw materials exportation.

At a meeting of the WTO's dispute settlement body, the Chinese delegation reiterated that "its measures related to exportation are consistent with the principles and rules of the WTO," and the country "consistently respects and abides by the WTO rules and its own commitments."

"China is disappointed that the three complainants choose to move forward with requests for panel establishment at this meeting ... and is not in a position to agree to the establishment of a panel at this time," the delegation said.

The United States has accused China of restricting exports of " numerous raw materials critical to U.S. manufactures and workers," thus violating WTO rules. The materials at issue include coke, bauxite, fluorspar, magnesium, silicon metal and zinc.

The EU joined the United States in filing WTO complaints on the matter in June, and they were later joined by Mexico.

Two rounds of consultations were held in July and September between China and the three complainants, but they failed to resolve the problem.

Requesting a panel is the next step in the WTO dispute settlement process after consultations fail. According to procedures, a panel request can only be blocked once, and if the three complainants choose to made a second request at a later date, a panel would be set up automatically.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2009)