China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng on Monday expressed “great concern and dissatisfaction” to European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis over the bloc’s anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles.
“We hope that the EU will act cautiously and continue to maintain this free and open market”, he said in Beijing at a joint briefing with Dombrovskis, executive vice president of the European Commission, who has been visiting China since Friday. He is one of the most senior Chinese officials in charge of the economy and previously headed the economic planning agency.
The comments were made after Dombrovskis warned China earlier Monday that the EU will be more forceful in maintaining fair competition and defending its interests against the world’s second-largest economy.
An open EU market “benefits European consumers, benefits Europe’s green and low-carbon development and benefits global cooperation on climate change,” he said at the briefing.
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China also hopes the EU will cancel export restrictions on high-tech productsHe said. China will establish a finance working group with the EU at vice-minister level.
This month, the EU launched an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles, which it says is necessary to protect jobs and supply chains in Europe as it claims China is unfairly flooding the market with cheap vehicles.
China has yet to signal possible retaliatory measures against the EU investigation. China’s Ministry of Commerce described that investigation as “a brutal act of protectionism.”
Translated by Bárbara Briceño.
