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US renews unfair trade accusations against China
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Nov 20, 2018

EU's Vestager warns China against unfair competition
Brussels (AFP) Nov 20, 2018 - EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on Tuesday warned China against unfair competition, urging it to offer "the same conditions" to European companies as those enjoyed by Chinese firms in the EU.

In an interview with AFP, Vestager stressed the importance of "fair competition not only with competition enforcement but also with... reciprocity."

"It is a problem that a Chinese company can do business in Europe but there are quite strict limitations as to how a European company can do business in China," she added.

"It is important" that Europeans can have "access to screening of foreign direct investments... to consider public order, security issues, cyber security," she said.

This could be "a good example of how competition law enforcement... and regulation will supplement or complement each other to have a more level playing field," she added.

Vestager was referring to a mooted European framework for assessing foreign investment wanted by France and Germany in order to address worries about acquisitions by foreign companies, mainly Chinese, in their strategic sectors.

Paris and Berlin are concerned that foreign groups are seeking to pilfer key technologies by buying their companies and have long called for European legislation to filter certain operations.

The idea faced significant opposition from pro-export Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic, all highly suspicious of meddling in the open market or of scaring off investors.

Pressed by French President Emmanuel Macron, the EU agreed to a limited proposal on Tuesday that encourages European cooperation on the matter, which must be approved by European Parliament early next year.

Washington on Tuesday said Beijing continued to foster the theft of American technological know-how, with officials there exacerbating matters in recent months.

The renewed accusations from President Donald Trump's administration come as markets grow pessimistic that the world's two largest economies can resolve their burgeoning trade war any time soon.

In an update to a report issued in March, the Office of US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Tuesday that China had not remedied practices long criticized by the United States and other major economies.

"This update shows that China has not fundamentally altered its unfair, unreasonable, and market-distorting practices that were the subject of the March 2018 report on our Section 301 investigation," Lighthizer said.

American authorities accuse China of seeking global industrial dominance in cutting-edge sectors like robotics and renewable energies through a variety of illicit means: stealing American intellectual property by forcing or pressuring US companies present in China to surrender it or through state-sponsored corporate acquisitions, hacking and industrial espionage as well as massive state subsidization and dumping.

Beijing rejects the charges but Brussels and Tokyo have joined Washington in denouncing Chinese trade practices. The three economies issued a joint statement on the subject in September.

The report released Tuesday said China "indeed appears to have taken further unreasonable actions in recent months."

The report cited the conclusions of civilian cybersecurity firms, according to which Chinese hacking efforts had continued unabated, with state-sponsored entities targeting "cloud computing, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, biomedicines, civilian space, alternative energy, robotics, rail, agricultural machinery, and high-end medical devices sectors."

In October, the Justice Department also announced charges against Chinese intelligence officers and agents accused of overseeing cyber-theft of intellectual property and confidential information from aerospace and high-tech companies.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due to discuss trade when they meet later this month during the Group of 20 summit in Argentina.

Trump has enacted punishing tariffs on more than $250 billion in imports from China, which has in turn put counter-tariffs on more than $100 billion in goods China buys from America.

Trump on Tuesday reiterated a threat to put tariffs on all Chinese imports if Beijing failed to satisfy his demands.

US duty rates on $200 billion in Chinese goods are due to rise to 25 percent in January if no resolution is reached.

US stocks have fallen hard this week, pushed lower in part because of a standoff at the weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that revived worries about the US-China trade rift. The meeting ended for the first time in APEC history without a group communique.


Related Links
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TRADE WARS
Protectionism 'doomed to failure': China's Xi says in swipe at US
Port Moresby (AFP) Nov 17, 2018
Protectionist actions are short-sighted and doomed to fail, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday ahead of an APEC summit at which US-China trade tensions are likely to take centre stage. In a major speech, Xi also stressed that there would be no winners from a trade war or a new cold war amid increasing rivalry between the world's top two economies. "Attempts to erect barriers and cut close economic ties work against the laws of economics and the trends of history. This is a short-sighted ... read more

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