MILAN: China’s commerce minister on Friday accused the European Commission of pursuing “protectionist” actions at the expense of green initiatives by launching investigations into Chinese subsidies.
At an Italy-China economic forum in Verona, China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao said, “We cannot understand how the European Commission on the one hand holds the flag for green sustainable development and on the other hand undertakes protectionist operations.”
European Commission this week opened an inquiry into Chinese wind turbine suppliers, looking into the development of wind parks in Greece, Spain, France, Bulgaria and Romania.
The European Union and United States have alleged China of flooding the global market with low-cost products from various industries which influence domestic growth.
The Chinese commerce minister said he found it “perplexing” that the EU commission on sectors like electric cars, solar panels or wind turbine had “taken some actions that are going to block them”.
The commission “creates subsidies for European companies while on the other hand opens investigations into subsidies given by China”, Wang Wentao said. “This clearly can undermine Chinese companies’ confidence in cooperation.”
A spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday slammed EU “protectionism” that “protects backwardness”. “China is highly concerned about the discriminatory measures taken by the European side against Chinese enterprises and even industries,” the spokeswoman said in Beijing.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Thursday his government wanted to strengthen trade ties with China despite Rome’s withdrawal in December from Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
