The United States' move to put some Chinese firms on a "notorious markets" list might hurt the companies' reputation and China is concerned about the issue, a commerce ministry official said Sunday.

Li Chenggang, head of the Department of Treaty and Law under the Ministry of Commerce, expressed the concern over whether it is appropriate to issue such a report since it provided no detailed evidence.

"Even the report itself said the list represents neither the results of investigation nor the evaluation of the U.S. government," Li said at a press conference in Beijing.

Li was commenting on a list of "notorious markets" for selling counterfeit and pirated goods issued by the Office of the United States Trade Representative last month. The list included China's Internet search engine Baidu and e-commerce giant Taobao.

"We have studied the report thoroughly," he said. "Such move might have negative impacts on the reputation of the involved companies and we are concerned about it," Li said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2011)