The China Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (CCCEU) issued a statement on Friday, expressing strong dissatisfaction with the EU's protectionism measures to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs).
The European Commission -- the executive arm of the 27-nation EU -- approved to impose tariffs of up to 45 percent on Chinese EVs after a pivotal vote on Friday, even after the bloc's largest economy and major car producer Germany rejected them.
The CCCEU urged the EU to act prudently, suspend the implementation of tariffs on Chinese EVs, and focus on resolving disputes and differences through talks.
This would help avoid the escalation of bilateral trade disputes, and jointly safeguard free trade and prosperity in the green and clean energy sectors on both sides, as well as worldwide, the chamber said in the statement.
The EU’s countervailing investigation against China's EVs is an unfair protectionist practice driven by politics. Imposing high tariffs will not only affect Chinese enterprises but also interfere with the production of EVs in China by European and other overseas enterprises, the chamber said.
Chinese business group strongly urges EU to be prudent with tariffs on Chinese EVs
Chinese business group strongly urges EU to be prudent with tariffs on Chinese EVs
Chinese business group strongly urges EU to be prudent with tariffs on Chinese EVs
Chinese business group strongly urges EU to be prudent with tariffs on Chinese EVs
The recently-approved action plan for stabilizing foreign investment has attracted a new wave of foreign-funded projects across China.
Formulated to ensure stable foreign investment in 2025, the action plan was approved by a State Council executive meeting last month.
Under the plan, China will support pilot regions in effectively implementing opening-up policies related to such areas as value-added telecommunications, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, providing whole-journey services for foreign-invested projects in these sectors.
In a foreign-funded intelligent manufacturing factory in Suzhou of east China's Jiangsu Province, engineers are making final adjustments to a vehicle-mounted display production line with an annual production capacity of 650,000 units, which is expected to contribute an annual increase in output value of 1.3 billion yuan (about 179.5 million U.S. dollars).
"In addition to the new production line, we will invest an additional 50 million yuan (about 6.9 million U.S. dollars) or so to upgrade the old production line this year, which can also realize automated and digitized production," said Ge Fengchen, general manager of Harman Suzhou branch.
In a smart factory of a foreign-funded elevator production company in Guangzhou City of south China's Guangdong Province, two intelligent production lines have just been put into use.
In addition to the Guangzhou factory, this intelligent production line is also scheduled to be put into use in its factories in Shanghai, Tianjin and Chengdu.
"This production line integrates a central control system, a joint control system, and an automatic positioning system. While using the (digital) twin technology on the management platform and automated inspection of the entire process, the production line is able to predict and prevent possible failures," said Jia Yuhui, president of Hitachi Elevator (China) Co., Ltd.
In January alone, a total of 4,229 foreign-invested enterprises were newly established nationwide with 97.59 billion yuan of paid-in foreign investment, increasing by 27.5 percent from December last year, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce.
"In recent years, the utilized foreign investment in the park has maintained a high growth, and a number of high-quality projects have been launched. The paid-in foreign investment in the first quarter of this year is expected to reach 1 billion U.S. dollars, maintaining growth momentum," said Liu Hua, vice chairman of the Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee.
China's favorable policy attracts new wave of foreign-funded projects
