China on July 6 imposed reciprocal measures on European Union (EU) companies in response to a previous ban on Chinese firms from participating in major EU public tenders for medical equipment.
China’s Ministry of Finance said in a statement that EU companies, with the exception of “those with European capital based in China, will have to be excluded” from orders worth more than 45 million yuan ($6.3 million), RFE/RL reports.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited EU headquarters last week, as well as France and Germany, in an attempt to improve relations with the 27-member bloc.
But deep problems remain over economic ties, including a huge $357.1 billion trade deficit between China and the EU.
China’s ban, which takes effect on July 6, covers a wide range of products, from prosthetics and parts to medical machines and surgical instruments.
Beijing’s finance ministry also specified that the share of EU products cannot exceed 50 percent in non-European companies’ bids.
In June, the European Commission decided to exclude Chinese companies from EU public procurement contracts for medical devices worth more than five million euros ($5.8 million).
The European Commission said at the time that the ban was a response to “China’s long-standing exclusion of EU-made medical devices from Chinese government contracts.”
According to Brussels, just under 90 percent of public procurement contracts for medical devices in China “have been subject to exclusionary and discriminatory measures” against EU companies.
“China has repeatedly expressed its willingness, through bilateral dialogue, to properly resolve these disputes through consultations, dialogue and bilateral arrangements in the field of public procurement,” China’s commerce ministry said in a separate statement.
Over the past three years, Brussels and Beijing have clashed over a range of economic sectors, including electric cars, the railway industry, solar panels and wind turbines.
