European companies in China yesterday called for greater market access and a level playing field with Chinese rivals amid growing frustration among foreign firms over perceived unfair treatment.
An EU Chamber of Commerce position paper said uneven enforcement of laws and unfair restrictions on foreign investment were deterring overseas companies from expanding their operations in China.
“This is not because European companies do not want to expand their China operations ... but rather because they face obstacles or risks in excess of what their boards and stakeholders will allow them to bear,” said Jacques de Boisseson, president of the business group.
The paper was the latest in a growing chorus of complaints from foreign firms that China’s business environment was worsening.
It called on Beijing to consult more with foreign firms on policy decisions and urged the EU to develop a common China policy.
“A single market needs a single and proactive economic and trade policy towards China,” Boisseson said.
Despite repeated assurances from top leaders that foreign investment was welcome in China, there was a “growing tendency” in sectors such as auto, telecoms and healthcare to block overseas companies from the market.
These hurdles were prompting some European companies to reconsider their presence in China, Boisseson said.
“There are sectors of the Chinese economy ... that would probably be satisfied with a lower level of foreign investment,” he said.
Beijing last month urged officials to implement policies aimed at encouraging foreign investment, in an apparent response to the criticism by foreign governments and firms over perceived unfair policies and market restrictions.
Surveys by the US and European chambers of commerce in recent months showed overseas firms were increasingly unhappy with the way they were treated in China.
Separately, a US federal grand jury has indicted 11 German and Chinese executives for conspiring to illegally import more than US$40 million of honey from China, the US Justice Department said on Wednesday.
In an example of what US Senator Charles Schumer has called “honey laundering,” they were accused of mislabeling honey made in China as coming from Russia, India, Indonesia and elsewhere to avoid nearly US$80 million in anti-dumping duties.
Some of the honey was also adulterated with antibiotics not approved for use in honey production, the department said. However, the 44-count indictment handed down in Chicago does not allege any cases of illness or risk to public health.
Ten of the indicted individuals were top executives of German food conglomerate Alfred L Wolff GmbH, or four of its affiliated companies, whose US honey-importing business was based in Chicago, the department said.
A Chinese sales manager for China-based QHD Sanhai Honey Co (秦皇島三海蜂業) was also indicted, as was the company itself, the German firm Alfred L Wolff GmbH and affiliates in the US and China.
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