Sinovel Wind Group Co. (601558.SH) Tuesday confirmed it is closing four international subsidiaries, the latest in a string of problems that have hit the company, one of China 's largest wind turbine manufacturers.

In a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday, Sinovel said it would shut its units in the U.S. , Belgium , Italy and Canada . It is unclear how large these units are, and the company's website did not give details.

Sinovel had begun in late April to shut down subsidiaries deemed to be "not in accordance with development strategy or lacked development potential," spokeswoman Wang Wen said in a statement Tuesday.

Ms. Wang said the closures have nothing to do with the company's ongoing legal problems in the U.S.

Late last month, the U.S. Justice Department filed criminal charges against Sinovel and two senior executives at the company, in the latest twist in a corporate-espionage dispute that has simmered for years. The indictment against Sinovel included charges of trade-secret theft, criminal copyright infringement and wire fraud.

The U.S. alleges that Sinovel stole source codes for software used to control wind turbines from AMSC, a Massachusetts-based engineering firm, and then shipped four turbines equipped with the allegedly pirated code to customers in the U.S. A lawyer representing Sinovel has declined to comment on the case.

Until 2011, when it abruptly stopped taking deliveries of AMSC gear, Sinovel was the U.S. firm's largest customer. The U.S. charges escalated a business dispute and potentially aggravate bilateral ties.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, while in his capacity as the senior senator from Massachusetts last year, called the AMSC-Sinovel dispute "a mugging in broad daylight and a real test of China 's commitment to the rule of law."

AMSC is pursuing four separate civil actions in Chinese courts related to the allegedly stolen software.

The slowing global economy has weighed China 's ambitions to dominate the global wind and solar-power industries. The country is mired in a trade dispute with the European Union over solar-power equipment exports. The EU is seeking higher tariffs against these exports, triggering a retaliatory Chinese antidumping probe into wine imports from the EU last month.

In 2012, the US imposed anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar companies, and followed this by slapping anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese wind tower suppliers.

Chinese solar-panel producers are already facing tough economic conditions, as a cyclical downturn has hammered demand and pushed China 's Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP) into bankruptcy proceedings. Suntech, the largest supplier of solar panels in 2011, has blamed part of its financial losses, facility closures and layoffs on antidumping and antisubsidy tariffs that went into effect last year in the U.S. , levied on Chinese-made solar cells.

Sinovel has also fared poorly amid the slowing domestic market and overcapacity in the sector. In April, it announced a 58% plunge in revenue last year compared to 2011, swinging to a net loss of 582 million yuan ($92 million) compared to a net profit of 598 million yuan a year earlier.

In May, the company came under investigation by the China Securities Regulatory Commission over suspected violations of securities laws and regulations, state-run Xinhua news agency said. The CSRC's Beijing bureau said in April that some of Sinovel's financial data was inaccurate, including inflated profit disclosures the company reported for 2011, Xinhua said. The company has said it would work with the commission, the industry's state-backed watchdog, in the probe.

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