INTERNATIONAL experts should be asked to review a United States trade complaint about China's clean energy policy, an International Energy Agency official said yesterday, adding that a solution should not prevent the development of technologies in this area.

The US announced last month it would investigate a labor union complaint that the Chinese government unfairly subsidizes manufacturers of solar panels, wind turbines and other renewable energy equipment to spur development of clean energy technologies within China.

"The issues are very complicated and should be solved in a way that doesn't interfere with the development of technologies," said Richard H. Jones, deputy executive director of Paris-based IEA, in Shanghai at an event to release the agency's Energy Technology Perspectives 2010.

He said there should be a panel of international experts to review the case because it's in everybody's interest and it's important to clarify the general subsidy and particularly export subsidy.

But China has rejected the trade complaint. Zhang Guobao, director of the National Energy Administration, said last month China's subsidies to the sector are much smaller than those of the US government. He added the US might be improperly supporting its own industry, citing rules on spending of US government funds for solar power that require equipment to be domestically made as part of its economic stimulus plan.

On Wednesday, Lin Shunjie, deputy secretary general of the China Chamber of International Commerce, called the US action a "wrong probe at the wrong time" and said now is the "best time" for bilateral cooperation in green technology, according to Xinhua news agency.

If the probe finds the labor union complaint true, the US could sue China in the World Trade Organization.