AFP, Beijing :
Foreign companies can’t compete on a level playing field in China because the world’s second-largest economy is stuck in a “reform deficit”, the EU Chamber of Commerce in China said Tuesday.
In contrast to the massive trade surplus China has run for years, pledges from Beijing for a transformative year of reforms and liberalisations have moved too slowly and incrementally, the chamber said in its annual report.
The 394-page position paper details the problems EU firms face in China, and represents the voice of 1,600 European companies.
The chamber said it received “a clear no” when it asked member companies whether international companies compete on a level playing field in China.
European firms face myriad issues in China, the report said, including preferential treatment for monopolistic state-owned companies, market access barriers and government red tape, as well as IP protection and forced technology transfer.
The roped-off Chinese internet was also identified as a headache by over half of businesses, according to the chamber’s survey.
The report comes as trade tensions with Washington have skyrocketed, with US President Donald Trump announcing Monday new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods that will take effect next week.
