Ministry of Trade: Planned investigation into Chinese subsidies harms cooperation.
The European Commission wants to investigate state subsidies for Chinese wind turbine manufacturers to combat potential competition (we reported). The People’s Republic has now criticized and accused the EU of protectionism and distortion of competition; the planned measure would impair “mutually beneficial cooperation” and the trust of Chinese companies in investment and trade cooperation in the EU, Reuters quotes an official from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
The official referred to other investigations already launched by the bloc targeting Chinese companies in the new energy sector. Among other things, a corresponding investigation was launched last fall into state subsidies for electric cars from the People’s Republic. Here, too, China had already voiced clear criticism and pointed to its own subsidies in European countries.
Low-cost competition from the People’s Republic is one of the challenges currently facing Europe’s wind power industry, alongside bureaucratic hurdles and supply chain problems. China, on the other hand, can rely on its enormous domestic capacities in the production and processing of the critical raw materials required for wind turbine production, such as rare earths.
Photo: iStock/MatusDuda
