“The outside world is worried about the rising tendency of protectionism in the EU,” foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing today.

“China is highly concerned about the discriminatory measures taken by the European Union against Chinese companies and even industries,” Mao said, adding that the bloc should abide by World Trade Organization rules and market principles.

The investigation, announced yesterday, represents the latest move in a push by Europe and the US to protect their firms from what they view as unfair competition from state-subsidised clean technology imports from China.

In a visit to China this week, US treasury secretary Janet Yellen said Washington would not accept its industry being “decimated” by China’s overcapacity in key products such as electric vehicles, batteries, and solar panels.

The European Commission will look into conditions for the development of wind parks in Spain, Greece, France, Romania, and Bulgaria, the EU’s anti-trust commissioner Margrethe Vestager has said.

While local players like Siemens Energy and Vestas still supply most of wind turbines on Europe’s wind farms, they face intense competition from lower-cost Chinese products, threatening 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, accounting for 60% of the 163 gigawatts (GW) globally in 2023, according to Brussels-based industry association Global Wind Energy Council.

Prices for Chinese turbines are around 20% below rival US and European products, says research service BloombergNEF.