(Adds opening of talks, quotes)

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING, April 25 (Reuters) - China and the European Union on Friday vowed to seek balanced trade and foster cooperation in development policy and climate change in high-level meetings dogged by tension over Tibet protests and the Olympics.

EU officials led by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso had intended meetings with senior Chinese officials in Beijing this week to help ease rifts over China's big trade deficit and to foster agreement on "sustainable" growth.

Economic tensions have festered as China's trade surplus with the EU bloc surged to nearly 160 billion euros ($251 billion) last year, according to EU data.

But the long-prepared talks have been upstaged by anti-Chinese unrest across Tibetan areas last month, followed by Tibet protests that upset the Beijing Olympic torch relay in London and Paris, and then nationalist Chinese counter-protests.

At the start of a meeting with Barroso, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stressed hopes for fruitful negotiations.

"We stand ready to have in-depth discussions on the future of China-EU relations and sustainable development of both sides," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told EU officials in front of reporters.

Barroso told reporters, following the meeting with Wen, that there were "major imbalances" in trade and both sides had agreed on the necessity to rebalance bilateral trade.

Top EU foreign policy official Benita Ferrero-Waldner said Tibet would also feature in talks, and she wanted Beijing to open talks with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader whom Beijing blames for the unrest.

"I am encouraged by our exchanges on Tibet and I hope to see positive developments soon," Barroso told reporters after meeting Wen.

But Chinese leaders have shown little patience for Western pressure over Tibet, which Beijing says is a purely internal issue.

President Hu Jintao on Thursday told the visiting President of the French Senate, Christian Poncelet, that the Paris protests against Chinese control in Tibet were "unfriendly to the Chinese people."

"We hope the French side will squarely face up to the problems that have emerged," Hu told him, according to Xinhua news agency.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, in Beijing to launch regular high-level talks, urged an end to mutual threats of boycotts.

The European Parliament has asked EU leaders to boycott the opening ceremony at the Beijing Games in August unless China opens talks with the Dalai Lama.

Such calls, and Chinese public counter-campaigns to boycott European companies, especially the French supermarket chain Carrefour, served neither side, Mandelson said on Thursday.

"We need to live with China, work alongside China, and gain China's commitment to working on the issues between us," he said by telephone. (Additional reporting by Yoko Kubota in Tokyo; Editing by Nick Macfie and Valerie Lee)

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