CRI听力:Spokesperson: Solar Duties Hurt China-EU Trade

China's Ministry of Commerce has issued a new statement, saying an EU proposal to levy punitive duties on Chinese solar panels - if implemented will "severely impair" bilateral trade ties.

CRI's Wei Tong has more.

The comment came after the European Commission agreed to back a proposal to levy provisional duties ranging from 37 to 68 percent on Chinese solar panels.

The export of the Chinese solar products involving EU anti-dumping measures has amounted over 20 billion US dollars.

The Commerce Ministry spokesperson Shen Denyang has urged the EU to consider the bigger picture of bilateral ties and make greater efforts to handle the issue properly.

"We believe the EU's move will severely undermine Sino-EU trade relations, which forms up the most dynamic part of Sino-EU ties. However, the bilateral trade has dropped 3.7 percent since 2012 and reached the lowest point in the first quarter. We can say the EU's trade remedy measures directly led to the trade friction."

Meanwhile, the EU commission has also announced now that it will adopt both anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations on Chinese mobile telecommunication equipment.

Shen Denyang has urged the EU to stop doing things that undermine the economic interests of both sides.

Instead, he says China wants to solve the dispute by talking about it.

"China-EU cooperation in the wireless communications sector has long been mutually beneficial, and EU companies even take a bigger market share in China than Chinese firms do in the eurozone. The interests of both parties will be hurt if the EU adopts trade remedy measures unilaterally on Chinese mobile telecommunications equipment. Many EU member states disagree with the probe, and the EU's industry circle also opposes it."

Shen Denyang also opposed the EU's move to make the decision without first responding to China, who has already cast suspicion on the EU's sincerity in resolving the trade issue through consultation.

Shen warned that if the EU insisted on launching the probe, China would take measures to protect itself, in line with World Trade Organization rules and Chinese laws.

For CRI, I am Wei Tong.