The new US ambassador to China warned on Tuesday that Beijing’s refusal to open important sectors of its economy to foreign investment is causing increasing resentment in the US, where some legislators are calling for a tougher line against China, the New York Times reported. A raft of obstacles to foreign corporations are “planting seeds of doubt in the minds of foreign investors as to whether they are truly welcome in China,” Gary Locke, a former US commerce secretary and the new ambassador, told the American Chamber of Commerce. Meanwhile, the European Union’s trade commissioner, Karel de Gucht, told a conference in Brussels that China’s refusal to open its economy could backfire by encouraging European politicians to erect barriers to Chinese investment in the continent, the Financial Times reported. European countries are increasingly looking to Chinese investment to bolster their crumbling finances, but the process has also heightened fears that Europe may forfeit valuable assets in the process.
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