1st Ld-Writethru: China voices opposition to rising protectionism in U.S.
Xinhua,January 11, 2018 Adjust font size:
BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday expressed opposition and concerns over rising protectionism in the Untied States after two high-profile planned deals were blocked citing security concerns.
"We've noticed recently that protectionist voices have been on the rise in the United States, and sometimes these voices have even prevailed," Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng said.
Gao made the statement in response to a reported failed deal by Chinese tech company Huawei in the United States
China is against trade protectionism in any form, and hopes the United States will meet China halfway to promote healthy and stable Sino-U.S. economic ties, he added.
News reports said earlier this week that Huawei's planned deal with U.S. telecom carrier AT&T to sell its smartphones in the United States had suffered a setback.
Last week, U.S. authorities rejected a merger by China's Ant Financial and U.S. money transfer company MoneyGram International Inc. over national security concerns.
"As far as the Ant Financial case is concerned, we are sorry to see that normal business investment and mergers made by a Chinese enterprise in the U.S. were once again blocked due to so-called national security reasons," said Gao.
"We do not oppose normal security review by relevant countries over foreign investment, but we are concerned about acts that set up a glass door and swing door to restrict foreign investment citing national security," Gao said.
"It is our hope that relevant countries take concrete measures to create a just, fair, open and predictable investment environment for enterprises, including Chinese companies," Gao added.
China encourages its firms to "go global," as long as it is reasonable and legal, and to conduct investment and merger businesses, Gao said.
"This is derived from both the needs of enterprises themselves and the needs of China's development, and it is also in line with the law of the market economy," he added. Enditem