China has said that the EU's Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) poses "serious" investment barriers and constitutes "institutional discrimination", warning that Beijing will take countermeasures to "firmly" safeguard its "legitimate rights and interests".
A spokesperson for the Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Monday that the legislation imposes multiple restrictive requirements on foreign investment in four strategic emerging industries, batteries, electric vehicles, photovoltaics, and critical raw materials, and includes exclusionary EU origin clauses in public procurement and public support policies, state-run Xinhua News reported.
Introduced in March, the IAA aims to increase value creation in the EU, strengthening its industrial base against the backdrop of growing "unfair global competition" and increasing dependencies on non-EU suppliers in strategic sectors.
Beijing has formally submitted comments to the European Commission, expressing its "position and serious concerns" over the legislation.
In the comments, China argued that the act poses discrimination against Chinese investors and will slow the EU's green transition and undermine fair competition in the EU market.
Beijing urged the EU to remove discriminatory requirements against foreign investors, local content requirements, mandatory intellectual property and technology transfer requirements, and public procurement restrictions from the legislation.
The spokesperson said that China is willing to engage in dialogue with the EU on the issue.
"However, if the EU disregards China's comments and pushes ahead with enacting the legislation, causing damage to Chinese companies' interests, China will take countermeasures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises," the spokesperson said.
