Chinese solar firms call US antitrust lawsuit groundless

One of the US-listed Chinese solar firms, which was sued by US bankrupt solar firm Solyndra on the grounds of monopolization and unfair trade practices, said Monday that the antitrust action was groundless and that the company will defend its legitimate interests.

Solyndra's filing of an antitrust lawsuit in the US District Court of the Northern District of California is "unwarranted, and we will actively defend our legitimate interests and resolutely fight this groundless litigation," Trina Solar Ltd, one of the defendants in the lawsuit, said in a statement on its website Monday.

"We just received a notice about this complaint, but from our initial review, the charges are unwarranted and misguided claims from a company that has a clear history of failed technology and achievements. We will vigorously defend ourselves with the expectation that Yingli will prevail," Robert Petrina, managing director of Yingli Green Energy Americas, another defendant in the case, said in a statement on its website Friday.

Solyndra has filed a lawsuit against three Chinese solar players, including Suntech Power Holdings Co, seeking $1.5 billion in compensation for monopolization by these firms, Reuters reported Friday.

Calls to Suntech Power were not answered Monday.

And the American Chamber of Commerce in China declined Monday to comment on this issue saying that they have not collected enough information about this issue.

Solyndra, which claims in the lawsuit that the trio were involved in predatory pricing and price-fixing, filed for bankruptcy a year ago as it could no longer compete with plunging prices of solar panels imported from China, Reuters reported.

"This kind of groundless complaints from the US will not stop, since the US presidential election is still going on, and its government always would like to link its domestic social conflicts with China," Zeng Shaojun, secretary-general of the China New Energy Chamber of Commerce, told the Global Times Monday.

"The Chinese government will take countermeasures if the US kept on igniting trade frictions, and it will benefit neither side," Zeng said.

The Ministry of Commerce rejected a US decision to impose final duties on solar panels imported from China Thursday and urged the US government to stop its trade remedy measures.

The US Commerce Department announced Wednesday that it will impose anti-dumping tariff on Chinese solar product exporters with rates from 18.32 percent to 249.96 percent, and anti-subsidy tariff with rates ranging from 14.78 to 15.97 percent.

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