So from the perspective of a worker still employed at a solar factory in Zheijiang or Jiangsu, the idea of the EU — the self-proclaimed global climate champion — slapping crippling tariffs on the PV components you are making must sound like a sick joke.

Sino-EU tensions are high, feelings raw. China’s beleaguered PV sector would love nothing more than to thumb its nose at Brussels and its perceived hypocrisy, write off the stagnant European market as a relic of the past, and set its sights on the greener (and more grateful) markets of the future.

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