In a survey the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, EU companies are generally sceptical on whether China will release open up market assess. European businesses continued to witness “sustained support for state-owned enterprises, higher incidences of unfair technology transfers and the strengthening of the Communist Party’s role in business.” It’s also noted that “one of the more significant shortcomings of China’s reform agenda is that certain high-level promises to improve its business environment for international companies have failed to translate into concrete action.”
More importantly, European Chamber Vice President Charlotte Roule complained that “our members have reported that compelled technology transfers not only persist, but that they happen at double the rate of two years ago.” And,  “it is unacceptable that this practice continues in a market as mature and innovative as China,”
Here are some highlights of the survey results:
- Optimism on growth over the next two years dropped from 62% in 2018 to 45% in 2019.
- 47% of respondents expect the number of regulatory obstacles to increase in the next five years, and 25% expect the number will stay the same.
- About half of respondents expect it will take five years to see competitive neutrality realized, while a third never expect it to be realized.
- 20% of respondents felt compelled to transfer technology as a condition for market access, nearly two thirds of which occurred over the last two years, and a quarter of which were taking place at the time the survey was being conducted.
