China-EU trade, investment growing rapidly: Chinese experts

China has become the largest trade partner of the EU, and the EU the second-largest for China, Chinese state-controlled media reported.

From last January to September, China's direct investment in the EU reached $4.99 billion, growing 54 per cent year on year, said the ministry of commerce.

"China has always supported the process of European integration. Still, last year, the trade protectionism in the EU became a more prominent problem, and the business environment there stepped back, which may harm Chinese enterprises doing business in the EU," said Zhao Ping, vice-dean of the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), China's foreign trade and investment promotion agency.

She made the remarks while CCPIT released a report in Beijing regarding EU's business environment in 2021 and 2022. CCPIT surveyed some 300 companies that have operations in the EU.

"Since last year, the EU has raised the market access thresholds of foreign companies, and nearly 60 percent of surveyed companies said the foreign investment screening process has brought a certain negative impact on their investments and operations in the EU," Zhao said.

Meanwhile, the EU has treated domestic and foreign enterprises differently in the name of pandemic control measures, and Chinese enterprises are facing increasing discrimination at the law enforcement level in the EU, the report said.

The surveyed enterprises regarded Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain as five EU countries with the best business environments, while the lowest assessment belongs to Lithuania's business environment.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)