EUROPEAN businesses in China are increasingly questioning their positions in the face of tough new security laws and a politicisation of trade, European Union trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis warned in Beijing today.

“European companies are concerned with China’s direction of travel,” said Dombrovskis in a speech at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.

“Many are questioning their position in this country.”

The trade commissioner pointed to a new foreign relations law and a recent update to China’s anti-espionage laws as being of “great concern to our business community”.

“Their ambiguity allows too much room for interpretation,” he said.

“This means European companies struggle to understand their compliance obligations: a factor that significantly decreases business confidence and deters new investments in China,” said Dombrovskis.

The EU trade commissioner was on a trip to China to meet senior economic officials and press the bloc’s case that it is not seeking an economic decoupling from China.

His trip followed a report by the EU Chamber of Commerce last week that showed business confidence was at one of its lowest levels in decades. – AFP, September 25, 2023.