China's Ministry of Commerce on Monday urged the US to avoid abusing trade remedy measures to aggravate trade frictions over solar energy products following a US decision to continue investigations on crystalline silicon imports from China Friday.

"Chinese solar energy products do not harm the interests of US industries but instead bring huge profits and job opportunities to the upstream and downstream of US industries," the ministry said in a statement on its website Monday.

China and US have been engaged in multiple rounds of negotiations to address trade frictions in the solar energy sector since May 2013 but the latest decision will exacerbate the frictions and create huddles in addressing the issue, the statement said.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) approved Friday anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on crystalline silicon photovoltaic products from China.

The decision means the US ¬Department of Commerce will continue with investigations to decide whether Chinese makers have been selling their products to the US at ¬below fair market value or have received "improper" government subsidies.

The department is expected to make a preliminary decision on countervailing duties in March and a preliminary decision on anti-dumping duties in June.

"The US ITC failed to sufficiently collect evidence and data and made a decision incompliant with the fact," the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCMB) said in a statement e-mailed to the Global Times on Monday.

The CCCMB strongly demands the US respect the facts and laws to give Chinese firms a fair treatment, it said.

Source: Global times