Brussels - The European Union hopes to hold soon a summit with China which Beijing postponed in protest at a meeting between EU leaders and exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, EU officials said Monday in Brussels ahead of a visit from China's premier.

China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is to meet top EU officials on Friday, and "I hope very much that this type of visit will create the climate to have this summit, the sooner the better: we need it," EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana said at a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

The EU and China had been scheduled to hold a summit on December 1, but the Chinese government called off the talks at the last moment to protest at a planned meeting between the Dalai Lama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who at that time held the EU's rotating presidency.

China is the EU's largest single source of imported goods and its second most significant trading partner, but the two sides have regularly exchanged accusations over issues of trade protection and human rights, especially following the Chinese crackdown on demonstrations in Tibet in March 2008.

However, the EU is keen to mend fences with China at a time of global financial crisis and the planned overhaul of major global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and United Nations.

"I do realize that some of the issues linked to Tibet slowed things down for a while, but I'm sure that we can get it back on track and I think it's very important that we'll end up having a summit meeting with the Chinese," Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said on Monday.

Wen is set to travel to Europe on Tuesday, attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, before heading to Berlin, Brussels, Madrid and London.

"I'll be talking to him about the issues of big concern of the international community, the economic crisis without any doubt, but also issues on the international agenda in which China has an important role to play," Solana said. (dpa)