China Wants Talks With EU on Solar Panel Dispute, Xinhua Says

China called on the European Union to resolve a dispute over solar panel sales through dialogue in order to safeguard their economic and trade relations, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported today, citing a senior official of China’s Ministry of Commerce.

“We hope the EU adopts a cautious attitude,” and “dialogue is the best approach to solving the dispute,” Xinhua cited Chong Quan, deputy representative for China’s international trade talks, as saying. Chong was speaking in Brussels yesterday after talks with Jean-Luc Demarty, the European Commission’s director general for trade, according to the report.

The EU on Sept 6 opened a probe into whether Chinese manufacturers of solar panels sell them below cost in the 27- nation bloc, a practice known as dumping.

The EU should pay attention to the “over 200,000 jobs” created in its photovoltaic power system installation industry by China’s solar panel exports, and also its export to China of solar raw materials and technological equipment worth tens of billions of U.S. dollars, Xinhua cited Chong as saying.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Daryl Loo in Beijing at dloo7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net