THE Ministry of Commerce said yesterday that China was targeted by more trade remedy probes last year.

Twenty-one countries initiated 77 trade remedy investigations targeting Chinese products, up 11.6 percent from 2011, the ministry said.

The probes involved US$27.7 billion, an annual surge of 369 percent, the ministry said.

Among the most notable cases was the European Union's anti-dumping probe into imports of solar panels and key parts from China, which involved more than US$20 billion.

Early last month, Yi Xiaozhun, China's permanent representative to the World Trade Organization, warned that China should be mindful of rising trade friction with European countries and the United States, as they are adopting increasingly harsh trade relief measures on Chinese exports.

More than half of the world's countervailing measures are directed against China, according to Yi.

In the first quarter of this year, China was targeted by 22 such cases, up 22.2 percent from the same period of 2011, the ministry said.