China vows response if EU targets Chinese trade

China has vowed a “resolute response” to safeguard its industries if the European Union goes ahead with restrictions against Chinese companies or products, according to its commerce ministry.

The ministry was referring to a reported joint document drafted by some EU member states pushing for a tool to tackle unfair trade and take more forceful measures against China.

The tool amounts to a “typical protectionist and unilateralist measure”, and will disrupt stability of China-EU trade, the ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.

“If the European side engages in talks and consultations with China, while increasingly pressuring China, it will seriously undermine mutual trust, interfere with the overall process of consultation,” the ministry cautioned.

China could respond with a “strong policy toolbox” that includes anti-discrimination probes, security investigations into industrial and supply chains and could also look into the impact of foreign subsidies, state-backed newspaper Global Times reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed Chinese observer as saying.

Global Times linked the warning to an article by Rhodium Group’s senior adviser on Europe-China ties, Noah Barkin, who said Germany and France were finalising a joint paper this week to call on the European Commission to fast-track development of an instrument that mirrors the United States’ Section 301 unfair trade practices provision, to deter China in the EU market.