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China and the European Union opened ministerial talks that were expected to focus on their recent trade disputes on Friday.
Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng and EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht co-chaired the 27th annual meeting of the China-EU economic and trade commission, officials said.
Gao and De Gucht were scheduled to issue statements on the talks later Friday, and De Gucht planned to hold a press conference.
Shen Danyang, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry, said earlier that the two sides would try to resolve the trade disputes including the EU’s anti-dumping action against imports of Chinese solar panels during the talks.
But EU trade spokesman John Clancy said De Gucht and Gao were only expected to discuss the solar panel dispute “in the margins” of Friday’s talks. The dispute “will not be discussed within the framework of this meeting”, Clancy said.
He said that the two sides had held “confidential technical-level discussions” in Brussels this week to find a negotiated settlement to the dispute.
Bilateral trade ties were further strained last week when the EU launched proceedings at the World Trade Organisation against China’s tariffs on imports of steel tubes from the EU.
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