China's ministry of commerce has decided to begin an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into wines imported from the European Union.

 

　　The move comes after the European Union decided to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of solar panels, cells and wafers from China.

 

　　CRI's Su Yi has more.

 

　　China's wine producers filed a petition to the commerce ministry last year, calling for probes into the EU's dumping of wine.

 

　　They said wine products from Europe received unfair government subsidies and was damaging to China's wine industry.

 

　　The commerce ministry says China has always been cautious about the use of trade remedy measures.

 

　　It says the ministry will carry out a strict investigation according to laws.

 

　　The decision comes after the European Union levied duties on Chinese solar panels.

 

　　That decision came despite opposition from Germany and other European Union members.

 

　　The EU will begin imposing a punitive duty of 11.8-percent on Chinese solar panels.

 

　　After two months, the duty will be raised to 47.6-percent.

 

　　China's commerce ministry has issued a statement, saying it "firmly opposes" the "unjust measures".

 

　　Commerce ministry spokesperson Shen Danyang says he hopes the two sides can find common ground when it comes to trade disputes.

 

　　"China attaches great importance to Sino-Europe strategic cooperative partnership, for which the economic and trade relations have laid an important foundation. China is unwilling to see the bilateral relationship to be affected by the ongoing PV trade disputes. We are in full preparation, and we hope to start price promise negotiations to maintain an stable cooperative relationship."

 

　　China's foreign ministry has issued a similar statement, urging the EU side not to take protectionism measures.

 

　　A foreign ministry spokesman says, otherwise, the EU will "only harm others and gain no benefits".

 

　　Chinese solar industry insiders say they believe there could be a win-win situation.

 

　　Zhang Qian is the Vice President of Canadian Solar.

 

　　"Chinese companies managed to cut the price of our products via efforts of our own, which have given the European PV market a boost as well. We hope that EU gives up trade protectionism, and stick to the spirit of free trade, so that China's products can contribute to EU's PV market as well as the global market."

 

　　If negotiations fail to resolve the dispute, the provisional duties will become permanent for 5-years from December.

 

　　The anti-dumping case is the biggest ever undertaken by the EU trade Commission.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Su Yi.