Beijing has urged the European Union to view its trade ties with China in a comprehensive and objective manner and honor its commitment to free trade.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning made the remarks on Thursday after the EU's industry chief told the Financial Times that the bloc will expand the tools at its disposal to "defend its economy against imbalanced trade with China".

China is closely following the EU's moves and will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, Mao told a regular news conference.

International trade is a two-way choice, with no one forced to buy or sell, she stressed, adding that China-EU trade relations are mutually beneficial in essence.

China never deliberately seeks a trade surplus with the EU, she said.

She noted that focusing only on trade in goods while ignoring trade in services and investment returns, emphasizing trade figures while overlooking trade structure and profit distribution, and paying attention only to imports from China while disregarding the EU's own export restrictions would inevitably lead to a one-sided conclusion of "trade imbalance".

"Whether it's about de-risking, reducing reliance or trade imbalance, it is protectionist in nature," Mao said, adding that the move will only hurt the interests of European consumers and lead to higher costs of enterprises as well as inhibited competitiveness of European industries.