MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

China appeals WTO decision on imports of US DVDs and other media products

The ruling ordered China to ease some of its curbs on foreign media products such as US books, magazines and computer games.

China has appealed a World Trade Organisation (WTO) decision against its restrictions on the import of US DVDs and other media products. The WTO settlement had said China was breaching international trade rules by blocking foreign-owned firms from being importers and wholesalers.

The ruling ordered China to ease some of its curbs on foreign media products.

The United States brought the complaint to the WTO in 2007, but China has insisted its system is fair. Documents relating to the grounds for the appeal have not been released.

The WTO ruling, made last month, also said China was breaking trade rules by preventing US music download firms from offering their services directly to Chinese customers. Its ruling also covers the export of US books, magazines and computer games to China.

China's current limitations on the import of official US DVDs and other media products has created a large domestic counterfeit industry, much to US annoyance.

At the time of the WTO decision, Beijing said: “The channels for China's import market for published materials, movies and music are completely unimpeded.”

The WTO upheld China's limits on the distribution of US films and made no ruling on Chinese censors.

In related news China's sovereign wealth fund has bought a stake in a Hong Kong-based commodities trading firm.

China Investment Corp, the country's 200 billion US dollars fund took a 15% stake in Noble Group in return for 850 million US dollars.

The deal comes after China recently signed a pact with another commodity trader, Glencore, in an attempt to increase its influence in the sector. China's rapid economic growth has made it one of the world's largest consumers of raw materials such as oil and steel.

Noble has investments in Australian coal, soybean crushing plants and sugar and ethanol mills in Brazil, among others.

In July, China Investment Corp paid 1.5 billion US dollars for a 17% stake in Canadian miner Teck Resources Ltd.

Sovereign wealth funds are the investment funds established by governments in Asia and the Middle East mainly, who have large surpluses of money which they wish to invest abroad. Abu Dhabi has the largest fund, at 800 billion, while Norway's is 400 billon, and Singapore has a 330 billion sovereign fund.