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STORY: China said it was concerned by what it called discriminatory measures by the EU against its firms.

The bloc said on Tuesday it would investigate subsidies received by Chinese suppliers of wind turbines destined for its countries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning speaking on Wednesday.

"I think the outside world is worried about the rising tendency of protectionism in the EU. China is highly concerned about the discriminatory measures taken by the European side against Chinese enterprises and even industries."

Europe and the U.S. both want to protect their firms from what they view as unfair competition from state-subsidized clean technology imports from China.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was in China earlier this week.

She said Washington would not accept its industry being "decimated" by China's overcapacity in key products.

That included electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels.

The EU's anti-trust commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the European Commission would look into conditions for the development of wind parks in a number of member states.

Local firms like Siemens Energy and Vestas still supply most wind turbines on Europe's wind farms.

But they face intense competition from lower cost Chinese products.

It threatens their position in a global race to develop more efficient, and cheaper, turbines.

China has by far the world's largest wind turbine production capacity, according to industry experts.

Wind energy projects received subsidies from the central government between 2009 and 2021, and still get local government support and state bank financing.

One research firm said prices for Chinese turbines are around 20% below rival U.S. and European products.

Customs data showed the EU imported some $1.42 billion in turbines and components from China last year.