BEIJING -- China opposes abuse of trade remedy measures, Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said on Thursday in response to the latest trade spat between the United States and China on steel.

A week ago, US regulators launched an investigation into complaints by United States Steel Corp that alleged Chinese competitors had stolen its secrets and fixed prices, and the company sought to halt nearly all imports from China's largest steel producers and trading houses.

"China's stance is clear in this respect. That is, the country opposes abuse of trade remedy measures," Zhu stressed when answering a question on the issue at the 16th Lanting Forum, held in Beijing.

China-US trade is rapidly expanding and annual bilateral trade has exceeded 558.4 billion US dollars, and it is inevitable that problems and contradictions will emerge during the development process, the vice minister said.

However, to solve trade disputes, both parties should abide by WTO rules and hold dialogues to guard against abuse of trade remedy measures, according to Zhu.

"We should oppose trade protectionism in the context of the principle of free trade, which is agreed upon by and serves the interests of both countries," said Zhu.

On the same day, Hebei Iron & Steel Group, China's leading steelmaker by output, released a statement on its website, accusing the United States of breaching WTO rules. It said US protectionism is damaging the world steel trade.

"The protectionist behavior taken by the United States, based on purely groundless accusations by US Steel, has seriously broken WTO rules, distorted the normal global steel trade and damaged the essential interests of Chinese steel mills and US steel consumers," the statement said.