The EU will send a delegation of high-level officials, including European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, to Beijing to hold talks with Chinese leaders this spring, the Financial Times reported. The April 25 talks, which could include five to eight other EU commissioners, will focus on climate change, China’s trade surplus with the EU and other economic issues. An aim of the meetings will be to elevate Sino-European ties to a level similar to that created by the twice-yearly strategic economic dialogue held between the US and China. In November the president of the European Central Bank, the European monetary affairs commissioner and the chairman of the eurozone finance ministers’ group visited Beijing for a meeting with Chinese central bank president Zhou Xiaochuan, which was followed by an EU-China summit.