China had 1.26 billion US dollars' worth of trade barrier cases in 2004, more than any other country, according to an annual report issued by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) Thursday.

"The Foreign Market Access Report 2005" covers 22 trade partners of China, including Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Russia, the European Union, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.

China's exports to these countries accounted for about 68 percent of China's total exports in 2004.

The report introduces the trade and investment regulatory policies of each country, barriers to trade and investment, the barriers Chinese companies come across in foreign markets, China's concern over these barriers and its efforts to eliminate them.

Trade barriers were classified into 14 categories, such as tariffs and tariff administrative measures, import restrictions, customs barriers and trade remedy measures. Investment barriers have three categories: barriers to investment access, barriers to operation and barriers to withdrawal of investment.

With the fast development of Chinese foreign trade and investment, some trade partners set up barriers to trade and investment to protect their domestic industries and home markets.

According to the WTO, a total of 16 countries and regions initiated 57 anti-dumping, countervailing, product-specific safeguard investigations against Chinese exporters. From 1995 to the first half of 2004, WTO members initiated 2,537 anti-dumping cases, 356 involving Chinese products -- one seventh of the total.

Wang Shichun, director of MOC Bureau of Fair Trade for Import and Export, said the report aims to help companies and organizations learn the investment systems and practices of China's trading partners and understand their barriers to investment, in order to participate in international competition on equal grounds.