Chamber Presented the South China Position Paper to Foshan Bureau of Commerce

2019-06-10 | South China

During the meeting, Vice DG Mr. Tong Quanqing emphasised that the Foshan government always upholds free trade and that all government policies are transparent and open to companies regardless of their nationalities. He mentioned the Foshan government encourages both outbound and inbound investment and are making effort to increase both. On the other hand, Chinese companies have met unfair treatment when doing business in Europe in terms of high tariff and trade remedies like anti-dumping.

A second point he mentioned was that the South China Position Paper should be objective and grounded to reflect the reality on the ground. He explained that Chinese governments, including Foshan, are supportive and helpful by offering preferential policies for FDI as compared to domestic companies. Some points mentioned in the book such as ‘subsidies’ are not correctly understood, because those are ‘grants’ that could be applied for all companies regardless of nationalities. He added that market force plays a decisive role in China and that companies are welcome to have their Chinese staff keep a close eye on the policies updates available in the government website. As China is becoming more and more open, he is disappointed to see Europe evolving towards a more protective and closed market.

The last point discussed in the meeting was the Greater Bay Area (GBA). Vice DG Tong mentioned that the current policies are coordinated by the GBA office and all policies will be announced fairly and transparently when they become available. As for infrastructure and other development projects, he said the market should take a leading role and companies shall be proactive in getting the latest information.
Vice DG Tong welcomed both sides to work closely and would especially like the European Chamber to convey to Europe that Chinese companies are also facing trade barrier issues when doing business in Europe.