BRUSSELS - The top trade officials of the European Union and China will meet next month to discuss how China is progressing towards gaining the bloc's coveted market economy status (MES), an EU official said on Tuesday.
Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai and European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson are also likely to touch on China's exports of textiles and clothing to the EU which are covered by a voluntary quotas agreement that expires at the end of 2007.
"Minister Bo Xilai and Peter Mandelson will discuss a range of bilateral trade issues," the official said.
The meeting is due to take place on June 12 in Brussels.
Mandelson caused alarm among some EU countries last week when he told diplomats that new laws in China, if implemented properly, would take the country closer to gaining MES.
The world's new manufacturing superpower wants to gain the status because it would make it easier for Chinese exporters to fight off European anti-dumping cases.
The EU has so far said China has met only one of five criteria needed for MES. Mandelson's latest assessment spells out where the Asian country still falls short.
But some European countries such as France and Italy are worried the EU is not being tough enough with China on trade and that Brussels has taken a softer line than Washington recently.
They also want Mandelson to seek an extension of the Chinese textile and clothing quotas.
Other areas of concern for the EU include intellectual property protection in China, restrictions on foreign investment and its currency.
