The negotiation between China and the European Union has stretched into Monday morning without any indication of an imminent agreement.

Chong Quan, spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said early Monday morning the two sides have had serious discussions and fully exchanged views throughout the day.

"The Chinese side takes a cooperative and practical attitude and will continue to work with the EU side to find solutions to the problems," he said.

An EU spokesman said that the talks had been constructive and the two sides were broadly in the same place about how to deal with the overshoot in certain textile quotas, which will lead to unblocking of the goods held at EU ports.

However, agreements on some important aspects are still to be reached, he added.

Sources said that during the negotiation that began in Beijing Hotel Sunday morning, both Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson have tried to reach a deal to solve the imminent problem of millions of items of China-made textile products blocked in European ports.

Mandelson arrived in Beijing Saturday for a summit of Chinese and EU leaders scheduled for Monday.

Before leaving Brussels for Beijing, Mandelson called on EU member states to take quick actions to unblock stockpiled Chinese clothes to serve the interest of Europe.

The impasse between China and the EU over the blocked textile products has left stores in EU countries short of seasonal clothes to sell.

Some 80 million items of Chinese clothing have been prevented from entering the EU market after the new quotas agreed with China were quickly filled.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2005)