Beijing, Yingli Send Mixed Solar Signals 英利和中国政府似乎“背道而驰”

By newsdoug on November 22, 2011

China sends mixed solar signals China’s solar sector is sending mixed signals as it faces a potentially crippling anti-dumping investigation in the US, with major player Yingli (NYSE: YGE) sending out what looks like a conciliatory message even as China itself puts forth a plan that looks more defiant. First Yingli, which announced a new tie-up with CIT Group (NYSE: CIT), a US-based financial services firm, aimed at providing financing for sale of Yingli’s solar cells in the US. (company announcement) This announcement looks like Yingli’s way of trying to refute allegations by foreign solar cell makers that Chinese firms enjoy a wide array of unfair subsidies from Beijing, including below-market financing from China’s big state banks to help them sell their products overseas. Yingli’s new agreement may carry some public relations value, but is unlikely to sway public opinion in the US very much without some major conciliatory moves from Beijing. Meantime, Chinese leaders seem to be doing just the opposite of that with an official’s new announcement that China will launch a new campaign to help developing countries build new solar plants. It’s unclear to me if the new remarks by Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s powerful state planner, are related to the ongoing trade spat with the US or not. (English article) My guess is that these comments, made during a climate change training seminar attended by officials from 26 small island states on Monday, were just the result of poor timing and weren’t aimed at provoking the US or showing Chinese defiance in the face of potential US action against Chinese solar cell makers. But either way, Xie’s remarks show that China has no immediate plans to halt its strong support for its solar cell makers, as any solar energy plants that China builds in developing nations are almost guaranteed to be supplied with solar cells that are 100 percent made in China. I’ve said before that punitive tariffs by the US look likely in this case of trade friction, and announcements like Xie’s — while they may be good intentioned — won’t do anything to help diffuse the situation.

Bottom line: Chinese solar cell makers are trying to diffuse an anti-dumping investigation by the US, but aren’t getting much help from Beijing, making punitive tariffs more likely.

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