The European Commission warned Beijing on Tuesday that it would haul China before the WTO if future trade disputes could not be resolved through talks.

Unveiling a grand new strategy for EU-China trade relations, the European Commission said that China faced a political backlash in Europe if the country did not play by the rules of international commerce.

"China has reached a stage in its development when the rest of the world is entitled to ask for more from China," EU trade chief Peter Mandelson told journalists at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Laying out Europe's demands, the British commissioner said that the EU wanted China "to fulfill its WTO obligations and continue to open its markets and liberalise trade in services and investment."

Although the European Commission would privilege settling disputes through dialogue, he warned that Brussels would use litigation at the World trade Organisation (WTO) if that failed.

"Where we have a strong case and where all other efforts have failed, Europe will use the WTO dispute settlement system to ensure that obligations are met and rules enforced," Mandelson said.

Since it joined the WTO in 2001, the Chinese economy has gradually opened up to European and other foreign exporters, although sometimes not as fast as they would like, creating tensions with Europe.

Even though Chinese tariffs on foreign goods have fallen since the country joined the WTO, the commission said some of Beijing's obligations to the WTO on opening its markets had been ignored.

Meanwhile, Chinese tariffs remained high on such items as textiles, clothing, leather and fur, footwear, ceramics, steel and vehicles.

Europeans were also facing an "increasing number of unjustifiable" non-tariff barriers such as product certification, labelling standards, import approval hurdles and customs delays.

"We're serious about the WTO obligations, we're serious about fair treatment for EU companies in China, we're serious about intellectual property rights violations," Mandelson insisted.

"It's politically very difficult to defend openness to China in Europe, if the perception exists that China does not take these issues seriously or does not compete fairly," he added.

Despite obstacles to European companies, EU exports to China increased by over 100 percent between 2000 and 2005 as China's growing middle class became increasingly attracted to European products.

With Chinese exports into Europe also booming, EU-China trade doubled over the period, fuelling frictions over Chinese clothes imports, shoe shipments and imports of EU car parts into China.

In the latest flaring of tensions, the EU applied anti-dumping duties on Chinese shoes this month just after it sought, along with the United States and Canada, a WTO ruling against China in a car parts dispute.

Last year tensions also ran high over China's soaring clothes imports, which caused the EU and United States to negotiate limits with China.

After struggling to resolve those disputes, Mandelson has made improving trade ties with the growing Asian economic giant a top priority and is planning to make his seventh trip to the country next week since becoming trade commissioner.

The new strategy will focus on pushing China to fulfill its WTO obligations, keep opening its markets, liberalising trade in services and investment, and opening its government procurement market while targeting state subsidies perceived as unfair in Europe.

At the same time, the commission aims to foster cooperation with Beijing on cracking down on counterfeiting while keeping up pressure on China to revalue its currency upwards, boost domestic consumption and meet international social, environmental and safety standards.