Beijing threatened, Monday April 27, to take measures against the European Union if the latter adopts without taking into account Chinese positions a law aimed at reindustrializing Europe and which it considers discriminatory.

The so-called “industrial acceleration” bill presented on March 4 by the European Commission, the EU executive, will have to be approved by member states and the European Parliament.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that it had submitted its comments to the Commission on April 24 and expressed its “serious concerns”.

“China will carefully follow the legislative process” and “stands ready for dialogue,” the ministry said.

“If the EU ignores China’s suggestions and insists on passing this text, thereby harming the interests of Chinese companies, China will have no choice but to take countermeasures,” he warned.

The text would require companies in sectors deemed strategic to “a number or percentage of critical components originating in Europe” when they benefit from public funds, according to the vice-president of the European Commission, Frenchman Stéphane Séjourné.

The text targets the automobile industry, carbon-free energy technologies (solar panels, batteries, heat pumps, nuclear power plants, etc.), heavy industries.

Without being named, China seems clearly targeted. Europeans have long denounced the unfair competition exercised, according to them, by heavily subsidized Chinese companies.

The text “imposes numerous restrictions on foreign investments in four emerging strategic sectors: batteries, electric vehicles, photovoltaics and crucial raw materials; it establishes exclusive clauses of + EU origin + in the award of public contracts and public support policies”, says the Chinese ministry. “Chinese investors will face discrimination,” he assures.