China’s foreign ministry has said it hopes Britain’s exit from the European Union will be ‘orderly’ and that the EU will keep its markets open, reducing hurdles to Chinese investment.
While the EU is not currently experiencing the same trade tensions with China as the US, there are some concerns regarding issues such as trade imbalance, protection of intellectual property rights and so on. But the bloc is China’s largest trading partner and China is its biggest trading partner after the US so it is in the interests of both sides to maintain favourable trading conditions.
The EU has been pressing for better access to the Chinese market for its companies, while China has lobbied against ‘unfair’ restrictions on Chinese investments in the EU.
With just over 100 days until Britain is due to leave the EU, the Brexit deadlock is causing widespread uncertainty. Beijing has promised to look at the possibility of reaching a ‘top notch’ free trade deal with Britain post-Brexit.
In return, China said the EU should ease high-tech export controls on China and facilitate mutual investment.
"China hopes that the EU will keep its investment market open, reduce and eliminate investment hurdles and discriminatory barriers, and provide Chinese companies investing in Europe a fair, transparent and predictable policy environment and protect their legitimate rights and interests."
The EU last month provisionally agreed on rules for a system to coordinate scrutiny of foreign investments into Europe, particularly from China in the wake of a surge in Chinese investments, to end what one negotiator termed ‘European naivety’.