China will carefully study the European Union, United States and Japan's request for the World Trade Organization to form a panel to resolve a dispute over rare earth export restrictions, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Friday.

"We have received the request from the U.S., EU and Japan and will properly handle the issue according to WTO dispute settlement procedures," spokesman Shen Danyang said.

Shen reiterated that China's rare earth policies are aimed at protecting environmental resources and achieving sustainable development in the industry.

"We have no intention of protecting our domestic industry through means that will distort foreign trade," he said in the statement, stressing that China has always honored WTO rules and actively fulfilled its commitment to the WTO.

On Wednesday, the European Union, the United States and Japan formally sent a request to the WTO's dispute settlement body asking for a resolution regarding Chinese export restrictions on three types of raw materials, including rare earth metals, tungsten, and molybdenum.

Rare earth metals are vital for manufacturing an array of high-tech products, including cell phones, wind turbines, electric car batteries and missiles.

China supplies more than 90 percent of rare earth products on the global market, although its reserves only account for about one-third of the world's total. The mining of rare earth metals has been blamed for environmental damage in some parts of China.

China has suspended the issuance of new licenses for rare earth prospecting and mining, imposed production caps and export quotas, and announced tougher environmental standards in order to reduce the environmental damage caused by rare earth exploitation.