China has never deliberately sought surplus in trade with EU: spokesperson

BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China has never deliberately sought surplus in trade with the EU and if the EU truly wants to address this issue, it needs to lift export control against China, rather than putting the blame on China, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

It is reported that Brussels will press Beijing to reduce barriers to European exports at a high-level meeting in September. European Commission Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in an interview that "The China-EU trading relationship is very unbalanced. China is running a huge trade surplus, and the level of openness from the Chinese side is not the same as the level of openness from the EU side."

When asked for comment, the spokesperson said that China's trade surplus with the EU is a natural result under the combined influence of different industrial structures, industrial specialization, ways of trade and external factors.

For years, the majority of EU companies in China have benefited hugely from China-EU trade and this is the fundamental reason why they have chosen to operate and expand business in China, said the spokesperson.

The EU restrictions on export of high-tech products to China in recent years directly limited the EU's ability to tap the potential of export to China and led to unbalanced trade between the two sides, said the spokesperson, adding that if the EU truly wants to address this issue, it needs to lift export control against China, rather than putting the blame on China.