The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday, backing comments made by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom on trade protectionism.
"China has always advocated the promotion of liberalization and facilitation of global trade and investment, and it has always opposed protectionism in all forms. We hope that the EU continues to see China's opening-up process from a historical and long-term perspective. We also reiterate that China is committed to further opening up to the world and will continue to provide more investment opportunities for foreign capital, as well as create a free and orderly investment environment, and a fair environment for competition," said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang.
EU Trade Commissioner Malmstrom, who took part in a seminar on China-EU economic and trade relations on Tuesday, lauded the speech made by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.
"And in this context, I welcome very much President Xi's concept in Davos three weeks ago. He claimed to commit to develop a free trade investment to promote liberalization and facilitation and to say 'no' to protectionism. And as he put it, 'protectionism' is like you lock yourself in a room—it keeps out wind and rain, but also light and air."
Since US President Donald Trump took office, many fear restrictions on international trade will be implemented, particularly as Trump has suggested huge tariffs will be imposed on all Chinese imports.
Malmstrom said it is the EU's hope the rhetoric won't turn into action.
At the same time, the EU trade chief stated the EU will remain 'open for business' with China.
"If other countries want to use trade as a weapon, we want to use it as tonic, a vital ingredient for prosperity and progress. If rising protectionism is a threat to Chinese economy, we stand ready to fight it together. If others are closing their doors, ours is still open, as long as the trade is fair and we'll give China every opportunity to uphold its pledge against protectionism," Malmstrom added.
China is the EU's second biggest trading partner behind the United States, while the EU is China's largest. Statistics show the EU's investment in China in 2016 grew by more than 41 percent year-on-year.
