Last week, the European Commission agreed to impose punitive import duties on solar panels coming from China. Soon after these tariffs were announced, the EU's trade chief Karel De Gucht pushed for higher duties against Chinese telecoms equipment makers Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp.

The telecoms trade dispute differs from the solar panel imbroglio in that no European companies have filed petitions against Huawei or ZTE. Instead, local manufacturers fear that a trade investigation may trigger retaliation in China, causing them to lose ground in the country's fast-growing market.

China's trade relationship with Europe has become complicated. Huawei has joined more than half of the 4G network projects slated for construction in Europe; while Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent SA and Nokia Siemens Networks have gained bigger market shares in China than Huawei and ZTE have in Europe.

However, Chinese companies are mainly positioned in low-value added fields and can easily be replaced. That's why the West can attack China on trade issues whenever it wants.

The author is Yang Zhirong, a researcher from China Industry Economics News.