The EU is sharpening its economic and commercial weapons to confront China's economic and technological strength. The community club seeks to protect itself from unfair competition from Chinese companies and manufacturers doped by state subsidies from Beijing.
Brussels considers the Asian giant as a “systemic partner, competitor and rival” and the opening of the Chinese market to European companies is not symmetrical to that which the EU provides to Chinese manufacturers. The issue of solar panels, points out the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, has become “strategically important for Europe”