Time is running out for Beijing to fulfill its reform promises if it hopes to maintain stable growth, a top European business lobby said yesterday, adding that the roots of US-China trade tensions began in China.
Despite Beijing’s repeated pledges to further open its economy, 46 percent of respondents in the EU Chamber of Commerce in China’s annual business survey said they thought the number of regulatory obstacles they face in China would increase over the next five years.
This year has to be the year when Beijing delivers on its promises and it should make serious commitments to defuse trade tensions, chamber president Mats Harborn said at a briefing on the survey.
“We believe also that time is running out for China to continue its reform process,” Harborn said. “The reforms are needed for China to maintain stable and sustainable growth.”
Reciprocal market access remains a particular concern, the survey showed, with 100 percent of firms in the information technology and telecom sector reporting that Chinese companies enjoyed better access in Europe than European companies had in China.
Sixty-two percent of companies in all industries said they had less favorable market access in China than their Chinese competitors had in Europe.
Western governments have urged Chinese officials to match their anti-protectionist talk with action.
Foreign business groups say the changes have been too little, too late, but the chamber’s survey also showed that European firms increasingly viewed their Chinese competitors as competitors.
Sixty-one percent of respondents said domestic Chinese firms were already equally or more innovative than European enterprises for various reasons, including increased research and development spending and targeted acquisitions of foreign high-tech firms.
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