A spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday expressed the country's "deep regrets" over the European Commission's decision earlier the same day to launch anti-dumping probes into Chinese solar exports.

"Restricting China's solar panel products will not only hurt the interests of both Chinese and European industry, it will also undermine the healthy development of the global solar and clean energy sector," Shen Danyang said.

He urged the European Union to scrap existing protectionist measures and not to introduce new protectionist trade and investment policies before 2014.

The nation calls on the EU to "seriously consider China's position and proposals, and to resolve friction over solar panel trade through consultations and cooperation," Shen said.