BEIJING -- China has decided to begin an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into wines imported from the European Union, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Wednesday.

The country's wine producers filed a petition to the ministry last year, calling for probes into the EU's dumping of wine that received unfair government subsidies and was damaging China's wine industry, according to the ministry.

The MOC said China has always been cautious about the use of trade remedy measures, and the ministry has observed that wine imports from the EU has risen at a high speed in recent years and will carry out a strict investigation according to relevant laws.