BEIJING -- China firmly opposes US abuse of export control measures and urges the United States to stop suppression and remove sanctions on Chinese firms, a commerce ministry spokesman said Thursday.

The US government earlier this month added five Chinese entities to its "Entity List," restricting the sale or transfer of American technology to the listed companies. A total of 47 Chinese companies and institutions have been put on the list.

Generalizing the concept of national security and abusing export control measures by the US side are against market competition principles, disrupt normal scientific and trade exchanges, hurt the interests of companies from both countries, and will not help address the US concern of the trade imbalance issue, Gao Feng, spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), told a press conference. "China is firmly against such practices."

It has been China's consistent belief that deepening cooperation in high-tech fields and expanding effective interaction help improve people's well-being and serve the interests of both countries and the rest of the world, Gao said.

"We urge the United States to stop wrong practices immediately and go back to the track of cooperation," he said.

Responding to questions about whether FedEx will be put on China's list of unreliable entities, Gao said details of the list will be released soon.

Entities abiding by China's laws and regulations, market rules and contracts do not need to worry at all, Gao said, adding that China would protect enterprises' legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law and safeguard market order based on rule of law and contract spirit.