China urges EU to end trade measures against Chinese solar exports

BEIJING -- China urged the European Union (EU) to stop anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties over Chinese photovoltaic (PV) exports as the latter is considering an extension of those trade measures.

China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Saturday that it would harm interests of both sides to extend the measures, and it hoped the EU terminates the policies as soon as possible to improve China-EU economic ties.

Solar panels and related components are significant to the development of clean energy and will help countries to achieve their emission-cut goals to tackle climate change, the ministry said.

The EU's executive body, the European Commission, on Saturday decided to launch expiry review of its PV trade measures.

The ministry said the growth pace of clean energy has been dragged down in Europe after European countries slashed subsidies on solar panels and set minimum import price. The region's PV installed capacity dropped to 7 GW in 2014, compared with 24 GW in 2012, and with its shares falling to 14.5 percent from 74 percent of the world's total.

The two sides went through major disputes on trade measures on solar panels imported from China before reaching deals on a minimum import price and quota set for Chinese imports in 2013.