ASIA

China Punishes Textile Firms: A week after talks with Washington on illegal textile shipments broke down in Geneva, China has punished five companies for exporting falsely labeled textiles to the United States, the official China Daily reported. China’s foreign trade ministry revoked the exporting rights of three of the firms and slashed the textile export quotas of the other two, the paper said. Factories in the regions where the firms are based will have their 1994 quotas cut, it said. Time is running out for Chinese and U.S. negotiators to hammer out a new agreement governing the two country’s textile trade. Talks in Geneva broke up last Thursday over Washington’s call for sweeping new powers to stem the flood of billions of dollars of illegal exports. Washington has said it will cut China’s textile quota by up to one-third if no agreement is reached before the end of the year, when the existing pact expires.