A European business group said increasingly unfair treatment of foreign companies by the Chinese government is making the country a less attractive place to do business and warned yesterday that some might leave.
“The Chinese authorities in general should not take the presence of European companies for granted,” Jacques de Boisseson, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, told a news conference.
Beijing faces mounting complaints that it is violating the spirit of its free-trade commitments by using technology and other policies to promote Chinese companies at the expense of foreign rivals.
US groups have also warned that companies might reconsider business plans in China.
An annual survey of 500 European businesses found that 36 percent believe Chinese policies have become less fair in the past two years and a slightly higher percentage expect conditions to get worse, the EU chamber said.
A key complaint was Beijing’s “indigenous innovation” policy, which favors domestic technology in government procurement.
Companies say that will force them to hand over trade secrets and other information that might help Chinese rivals if they want to sell to the government.
The US and the EU are pressing Beijing to scrap the policy. US officials said after a high-level dialogue last month that Chinese leaders promised to make changes, but a Chinese Cabinet official said the policy would continue.
European companies also complained that Beijing enforces environmental rules more strictly against them than against Chinese rivals, the chamber said.
They also cited spotty protection of intellectual property rights and opaque processes for company registrations, visas and work permits.
Communist leaders have tried to reassure foreign investors that are supplying technology and skills to modernize China’s economy.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) met with European business leaders in April and promised a “level playing field” with Chinese competitors.
De Boisseson called those comments “very reassuring,” but said: “We are looking for the premier’s words to be translated into deeds.” Despite the complaints, de Boisseson said companies see doing business in China as “a must,” especially at a time of weak demand elsewhere. About 72 percent of those surveyed were optimistic about China’s growth and 64 percent said it was one of their top three global investment destinations.
Profitability has been hurt by growing competition and other issues, with the percentage of companies that said they were profitable falling to 59 percent, down from 67 percent at the same time last year during a bleak period in the crisis, the group reported.
“The number of companies that declared they are profitable is going seriously down,” de Boisseson said.
The percentage of companies that believe Beijing is “actively seeking loopholes” to avoid complying with WTO market-opening commitments rose to 26 percent from 22 percent last year, the group said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique