BEIJING - China will be alert to threats posed by the trade task force in the United States to investigate and crack down on what it claims are unfair practices by Washington's trading partners, officials from the Ministry of Commerce warned on Wednesday.

US President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order on Tuesday establishing the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center to see whether trade partners, including China, "play by the rules".

"China is not the only target but we cannot ignore the negative impact it will exert on China and Chinese exports in the long term," an official from the ministry's bureau of fair trade for imports and exports, who requested anonymity, told China Daily.