Meng Xiangan, deputy director of China Renewable Energy Society, criticized the EU's move as trade protectionism and believed that China might take retaliatory measures.

Free trade, fair competition, opening-up and cooperation are the key prerequisites to the healthy development of the global PV industry, said Fan Ruifeng, public relations director of Trina Solar Ltd.

Failed talks

The protests came on the heels of an announcement Wednesday by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products that the first-round of negotiations designed to ease the current solar panel trade spat between China and the EU by agreeing on an export price had failed.

At the EU's invitation, the chamber sent a negotiation team and put forward pragmatic price undertaking plans, but the EU side turned them down, refusing to answer questions from the Chinese side, said Wang Guiqing, deputy chief of the chamber.

The EU did not show any sincerity in tackling the problems, leading to a breakdown in talks, the agency said.

Price undertaking basically means exporters raise the export cost of a product to avoid the possibility of an anti-dumping duty.

European PV firms have also lodged a separate complaint accusing their Chinese peers of receiving government subsidies that violate international trade rules.

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