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.
MILESTONE: The foreign minister called the signing ‘a major step forward in US-Taiwan relations,’ while the Presidential Office said it was a symbol of the nations’ shared values US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the state department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct a review “not less than every five years.” It must then submit an updated report based on its findings “not later
The Presidential Office today thanked the US for enacting the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday, is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct such a review "not less than every five years." It must then submit an updated
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
RSS