China has accused the European Union of imposing discriminatory trade barriers following a six-month investigation into EU policies targeting Chinese firms, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday.
The Commerce Ministry launched the inquiry in July after the EU began looking into whether Chinese government subsidies were undermining European competition.
It said that the implementation of the EU's Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) discriminated against Chinese businesses and constituted trade and investment barriers.
However, ministry officials did not mention whether Beijing planned to take action in response.
The EU and China are in dispute over several issues most notably over Beijing's support for its renewables and electric-vehicle sectors.
EU actions against Chinese firms have come as the 27-nation bloc seeks to expand renewable energy use to meet its target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
But Brussels also wants to move away from what it views as an over-reliance on Chinese technology.
Complained filed
When announcing the probe, the ministry said its national chamber of commerce for importing and exporting machinery and electronics had filed a complaint against the FSR measures.
The 20-page document detailing the ministry's conclusions said their selective enforcement had resulted in Chinese products being treated more unfavourably during the process of export to the EU than products from third countries.
It added that the FSR had vague criteria for investigating foreign subsidies and placed a severe burden on the targeted companies.
The ministry said EU measures such as surprise inspections exceeded the necessary limits, while investigators were subjective and arbitrary on issues such as market distortion.
It added that companies deemed not to have complied with the inquries of EU officials had also faced severe penalties.
Beijing has consistently denied that its industrial policies are unfair and has threatened to take action against the EU to protect the legal rights as well as the interests of Chinese companies.
The ministry said FSR investigations had forced Chinese firms to abandon or curtail projects, causing losses of around 2 billion euros.
"The measures have damaged the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises and products in the EU market," the ministry said.
Extra tariffs
The EU's first probe under the FSR in February targeted a subsidiary of Chinese rail giant CRRC, but closed after the company withdrew from a tender in Bulgaria to supply electric trains.
A second inquiry looked at Chinese-owned solar panel manufacturers seeking to build and operate a photovoltaic park in Romania, partly financed by European funds.
In October, Brussels imposed extra tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars after an anti-subsidy investigation under a different set of rules concluded Beijing's state support was unfairly undercutting European automakers.
In response, Beijing announced provisional tariffs on brandy imported from the EU, and later imposed temporary anti-dumping measures on the liquor.
(with newswires)
