The following is an excerpt from an article by the People’s Daily
The European Commission declared it will officially start an anti-dumping investigation into China’s photovoltaic products. This is the largest individual trade dispute so far in the world, involving more than $20 billion.
Considering China’s powerful support helping the European Union recover its economy, the EU’s trade policies seem irrelevant to the crisis of the eurozone today. The policymakers are infected with a typical “bunker mentality”.
That China’s photovoltaic products are making local enterprises in Europe feel mounting pressure is not because Chinese companies use improper methods, but because of their European counterparts’ lower competitiveness. Simply resorting to anti-dumping measures cannot solve the problem at all. The enterprises involved cannot win a bright future; instead, EU consumers will pay heavy costs for clean energy.
The European economies should be vigilant about the resurgence of trade protectionism. They should amend the EU’s outdated trade laws and regulations.
Chinese enterprises have been hit with the EU’s anti-dumping measures many times. They are left in a very difficult position in such cases, because so far the EU does not recognize China’s market economy.
If the EU does not update its perspective on China, such energy-consuming and unfair lawsuits will continue for a long time.