China on Friday rejected a US anti-dumping ruling against Chinese solar power equipment, calling it "unfair" and "unreasonable", as Chinese manufacturers warned that possible higher tariffs might hurt efforts to promote clean energy.

Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, condemned the US anti-dumping tariffs as trade protectionism.

"By deliberately provoking trade friction in the clean energy sector, the United States is sending the world a negative signal about trade protectionism," Shen said in a statement.