Five years after its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), China’s rapidly increasing trade volume has created growth in another area as well: the amount of trade disputes it’s facing.

The latest report from the WTO says China is the world’s most frequent subject of anti-dumping inquiries. It is now on the receiving end of one third of the world’s trade disputes, up from 15 per cent in 2001 when it first joined the organization.

Despite a global decline in trade investigations, China was investigated 32 times in the first half of 2006, nine more times than in the same period last year, the report said.

Earlier this month, the United States made a number of formal complaints to the WTO about China’s policies towards intellectual property rights and trade. Meanwhile, the European Union imposed a two-year, 16.5 per cent anti-dumping tariff on China-made leather shoes exported from this October.

These disputes, said Zhang Xiangchen, director of the department of WTO affairs under the Ministry of Commerce, are "the result of the dramatic development of the country’s foreign trade."

"China is taking a larger and larger proportion of the world’s business," he said. "Trade disputes are unavoidable in this process."

China ranks third in the world in import and export volume. It has a 7.7 per cent share in the world market, compared with 3.9 per cent five years ago.

The target commodities of anti-dumping complaints are mainly in the light industry, chemicals, and textiles. Bicycle and bicycle parts makers have been investigated as many as 18 times for dumping charges, and shoe makers were investigated for anti-dumping 16 times, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce.

While developed regions such as the United States, European Union, and Japan have kept up pressure on China, the country is also grappling with restrictions from the developing world. Developing countries initiated 60 per cent of the total anti-dumping charges.

Anti-dumping duties have hit profits and workers of mainly labour-intensive industries. An official from the Ministry of Commerce said previously that the recent tariffs on shoes put 70,000 workers in southern China out of business.