China has launched an anti-dumping investigation into certain chemicals from the European Union, the United States, Japan and Taiwan, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Sunday. The chemicals in question are “copolymerized paraformaldehyde,” which can “partially replace copper, zinc, tin, lead and other metallic materials” and are used in automotive parts, electrical appliances and industrial machinery. In foreign trade, dumping means that a product is sold below the manufacturing price, which violates trade rules. The investigation is to be completed within a year, but could be extended by …