BEIJING, Jan. 26 -- China's Ministry of Commerce urged the United States Sunday to stop anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on Chinese solar products.

"China will closely follow the case, assess the impact on the Chinese solar sector and resolutely safeguard our interests through various mechanism," said the ministry in a statement.

The U.S. Commerce Department Thursday opened anti-dumping and countervailing investigations over imports of certain solar products from China.

"Dialogue and consultation are effective means to settle trade disputes," said the Chinese ministry.

China expects the U.S. to conduct dialogue and consultation and properly settle the issue instead of taking trade remedy measures, it said.

The ministry said a similar probe into Chinese solar cells that opened in November 2011 did little to help improve the performance of the U.S. solar industry and exerted negative influence in the downstream sector.