EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on Friday kicked off a three-day mission in China amid simmering tensions with the growing Asian economic giant.
During the trip Mandelson, who has made relations with China a top priority in the EU's trade policy, is to meet for the first time with his new Chinese counterpart, Commerce Minister Chen Deming, his office said in a statement.
They will work on setting up a high-level dialogue to tackle both short and long-term problems in EU-China trade relations.
"The EU wants to build an engagement with China that focuses on our joint strategic interests and deepens the trust required to raise and resolve trade differences constructively and quickly," Mandelson said.
"This sense of partnership built on mutual interest will underlie the new high level mechanism," he added in his statement.
As Europe's trade deficit with China soars to record levels, Europeans frequently accuse Beijing of creating an uneven playing field by obstructing EU imports and keeping down the value of the yuan to the benefit of Chinese exports.
The European Union also recently launched investigations to see if China was unfairly selling steel, cables and candles to Europe at below cost in what is know as dumping and which can lead to retaliatory tariffs.
The European Commission, which runs the EU's international trade policy for the EU, is also considering launching WTO action against China for restrictions Beijing puts on foreign financial news organisations.
Europe ran a trade deficit with China in 2006 -- the last year for which there is data -- worth 131 billion euros (194 billion dollars) with Chinese exports to the EU growing about 27 percent per year for the last five years, according to the commission.Agence France Presse
