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China fair in antitrust reviews on foreign firms: MOC

Xinhua, October 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Sunday dismissed concerns over obstacles for overseas enterprises intending to acquire Chinese firms, saying the government is impartial in its antitrust scrutiny.

China applies the same standards to all market entities in anti-monopoly reviews, regardless of their form, scale and origin, MOC spokesperson Shen Danyang told a regular news conference.

He made the comments in response to a recent report in Japanese media that called for measures to prevent unfair treatment of overseas firms in China's antitrust scrutiny.

China has lowered market thresholds and streamlined administrative approvals to improve the business environment for foreign investors.

The State Council agreed on Saturday that many administrative approvals will no longer be necessary for foreign firms setting up on the Chinese mainland, cutting roughly 95 percent of procedures.

Such investors are only required to report business plans to local regulators, as long as their business is not on a "negative list," the State Council said.

Foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland rose 5.7 percent year on year to hit 57.3 billion yuan (8.8 billion U.S. dollars) in August, compared with a 1.6-percent drop in July, data from the MOC showed. Endi