By Gerry Shih Gerry Shih China Correspondent Email Bio Follow March 15 at 6:18 AM BEIJING — With U.S. trade talks at a delicate moment, China on Friday hurriedly passed a foreign investment law meant to placate the Americans amid some skepticism from Western business groups.
As votes were cast at the Great Hall of the People Friday morning — with just a handful in token opposition — state media sprung into action touting the bill’s benefits for foreign companies and highlighting how efficiently it moved through the Chinese bureaucracy in recent months. The measure was tweaked as recently as this week in what was widely seen as an effort by Beijing to address a core complaint raised by Washington’s trade negotiators and foreign business groups.
“I have said many times that China’s opening-up measures are often not launched as one package; they come out every year and even every quarter,” Li said. “Then you turn around and realize they’ve cumulatively had an unimaginable effect.”The Chinese law came at the end of a week when the Trump administration cooled the temperature on talk of an imminent trade deal. U.S. Trade Representative Robert E.
The European Chamber of Commerce said Friday it objected on principle to the Chinese system still maintaining distinctions between foreign and Chinese companies. “More than anything else, foreign companies want equal treatment and opportunities,” said the chamber’s president, Mats Harborn. “While not all of our concerns were addressed in this law, it is time to move forward.”
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