A Chinese business group has urged the European Union to halt its “discriminatory and disproportionate” use of anti-subsidy probes to target Chinese companies, as Brussels steps up its scrutiny of firms allegedly receiving unfair state subsidies.
The EU launched an in-depth foreign subsidy regulation (FSR) investigation against the Chinese security firm Nuctech on Thursday, just days after Brussels reportedly raided the Chinese-invested e-commerce platform Temu’s European headquarters in Dublin under a separate FSR probe.
In a statement, the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU (CCCEU) expressed “firm opposition” to what it described as the European Commission’s “continued, targeted and excessive” use of investigations against Chinese-invested enterprises.
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The body indicated the FSR – a tool introduced by Brussels in 2023 – was being used to unfairly single out China’s firms, as the “majority” of FSR investigations launched so far had involved Chinese or Chinese-invested businesses.
The chamber warned the Commission not to “abuse its investigative power” by interfering in the normal business activities of foreign companies, while arguing that Brussels’ definition of foreign subsidies was too broad and “may significantly exceed reasonable boundaries” under existing international rules.
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In January, China’s Ministry of Commerce concluded a six-month investigation into the EU’s FSR enforcement against Chinese enterprises, which found the instrument represented a trade and investment barrier that had caused Chinese firms direct and indirect losses of about €2.1 billion (US$2.46 billion).