A national industry organization which represents 500 Chinese energy enterprises issued a statement at a press conference on Wednesday opposing the EU's anti-dumping complaint against the country's solar panel products.

"On behalf of China's photovoltaic (PV) industry, we call on the European Commission to  treat this anti-dumping complaint prudently," the China New Energy Chamber of Commerce (CNECC), which is under the All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce, said in the statement.

Liu Hanyuan, board chairman of the Tongwei Group, a new energy and agriculture company, said at the press conference that the Chinese solar industry will suffer a fatal blow if the EU punishes Chinese enterprises by imposing anti-dumping duties and high tariffs.

Solarworld AG, Germany's biggest maker of solar panels, filed a complaint to the EC on July 24, asking for an anti-dumping probe against China's PV products.

The commission has 45 days from the date of the submission of the complaint to decide whether to accept the case and launch the probe.

Zeng Shaojun, secretary-general of the CNECC, told the Global Times that the chamber would submit their statement to the related department of the EU and its member states' embassies in Beijing, as well as several Chinese ministries including the Ministry of Commerce, right after the press conference.

Over 80 percent of China's domestic solar energy enterprises stopped production and around 80 percent of their employees lost their jobs or suspended work after the US recently launched a similar case, said Liu, adding that the consequences will be hard to contemplate if the EU, the largest importer, decides to launch the probe.

The US Department of Commerce announced a preliminary decision on its website in May to impose anti-dumping duties of as much as 250 percent on solar products imported from China. The final determination is expected to be released in October.

Over 70 percent of Chinese solar product exports went to the EU, while the US only imported around 20 percent of the total Chinese solar product exports.

Zeng said it will damage both China and the EU's solar industries if the EC accepts the case.

There are 280,000 to 300,000 employees at European PV companies and about 1 million job opportunities in China's PV industry, the statement said.

"China's PV enterprises have mastered advanced technologies to cut costs as much as possible, which has incurred complaints from some foreign partners, which are unfair," said Liang Tian, public relations director of Yingli Green Energy Holdings Co, one of the leading domestic solar panel manufacturers.

Yingli has set up a solar energy alliance with three other major solar panel manufacturers, Suntech Power Holdings Co, Trina Solar Ltd and the Canadian Solar Inc to lobby in European countries, particularly in Germany, Spain and Italy, to appeal for cooperation with local enterprises.

The Ministry of Commerce has accepted a petition made by four other major PV firms for anti-dumping and countervailing probes against EU producers, the Xinhua News Agency reported on August 17.

The ministry announced on July 20 that it would launch anti-dumping and countervailing investigations into polysilicon imports from the US and anti-dumping investigations into polysilicon products imported from South Korea.

Liu Hanyuan of the Tongwei Group admitted that the domestic solar PV industry has a problem of overcapacity mainly driven by short-term interests.

There are more than 2,000 domestic companies in the PV industry, and half of them are focused on the production of solar products, earlier reports revealed.