Europe’s top financial mandarins today pressed China to do more to allow the yuan to rise more quickly and reduce rapidly widening trade imbalances with the eurozone.

Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers and Joaquin Almunia, the EU's monetary affairs commissioner arrived in Beijing a day ahead of a scheduled EU-China summit.

The three engaged in talks with People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, urging Beijing to let the yuan gain more against the euro. The EU is anxious to put the brakes on a trade deficit with the world’s fastest growing major economy that is swelling by $20 million an hour.

A statement on the talks from the People’s Bank of China gave little hint that the central bank had shown any readiness to respond swiftly.

The bank said: “The two sides agreed to make a joint effort and take comprehensive measures to step up structural economic adjustments, prevent big swings in foreign exchange rates and make a contribution to an orderly adjustment of global imbalances."

The European officials were tightlipped, refusing to comment until after the summit tomorrow when Europe’s leaders will have a chance to put their case to China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao.

EU officials are dismayed by the yuan's steady slide against the euro, which they say is exacerbating global imbalances and fuelling protectionism in Europe.

European steelmakers filed a new anti-dumping complaint against imports of steel from China yesterday, a move clearly timed to precede a summit that will focus on an array of mounting trade frictions.

The toughening of the EU's tone coincides with a surge in its trade deficit with China, which Brussels expects to rise nearly 30 percent this year to €170 billion ($253 billion). The euro zone’s deficit with China leapt 25 percent in the first eight months to €70 billion.

China’s leaders have shown little intention of giving ground on exchange rates – a position that reflects national pride and a determination to show their people that the government cannot be pushed around by Western powers.

Meeting French President Nicholas Sarkozy, China’s prime minister rolled out his well-worn line that has Beijing will introduce greater currency flexibility, but at its own pace. As usual, he gave no hint as to scale or timing.

European officials complain that while the yuan has risen almost 3 percent against the dollar since mid-August, it has weakened 7 percent against the euro.

Peter Mandelson, the EU Trade Commissioner, who is also in Beijing for the summit, said the EU would treat China like any other major trading partner – a veiled warning that it might lodge a formal complaint with the trade watchdog.

In an article in the China Daily, he wrote: “"Even if revaluation would not, in itself, solve our trade deficit, it would help cool an overheating heavy industry sector that is swollen with overcapacity and artificially cheap capital."

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