China has not done enough to open its market, the EU's ambassador said Wednesday, and must take "concrete actions" to give European companies equal access to the world's second-largest economy.
While cash-flush Chinese tycoons have snapped up European companies, sports clubs and airports, foreigners are barred from investing in equivalent industries accounting for large swathes of the Chinese economy.
"There is no level playing field for investors," European Union ambassador to China Hans Dietmar Schweisgut told reporters.
"We are seeing a situation where Chinese investments abroad, particularly in Europe, are booming, while European investment in China is stagnating or going down," he said.
Schweisgut cited restrictions on China's auto, banking and financial services industries -- all markets where Europe was "completely open".
The comments came after Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a lengthy speech defending free trade and globalisation at the elite World Economic Forum in Davos, where he insisted China was committed to "opening up".
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