BEIJING - China's commerce ministry said Thursday that the country is "strongly dissatisfied" with the European Union's use of a "surrogate country" approach in probes against Chinese products.

In anti-dumping probes into made-in-China tires, the European Commission continued to use the unfair "surrogate country" approach, which imposes trade remedies by calculating production costs based on data in a third country, and inflated the degree of dumping, the Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng said.

China urged the EU to treat Chinese businesses fairly in the investigations, Gao said.

This came after the European Commission announced the imposition of anti-dumping duties on tire imports from China beginning May 8 and lasting for six months.

The EU move will not only harm the interests of Chinese businesses, but also undermines the long-term development of the EU tire industry and interests of its consumers, Gao said.

He said China will closely follow the development of the case and firmly defend the legitimate interests of Chinese enterprises.