Newly-appointed EU trade commissioner arrives in Beijing

Newly-appointed European Union (EU) Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson arrived in Beijing Thursday morning, beginning his first visit to China since he took office.

During his visit, Mandelson will meet with several senior Chinese officials including Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai and exchange views on the development of bilateral trade and economic relations.

Sino-EU ties have secured a good momentum of growth in recent years. According to the latest Chinese official statistics, the Sino-EU bilateral trade value surpassed 150 billion US dollars last year. The EU has become the largest trading partner to China and China becomes EU's second largest only after the United States.

Mandelson is from Great Britain. He once was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland of the British cabinet. He assumed the office of EU trade commissioner in November 2004, succeeding Pascal Lamy.