Photo: GT

 
China welcomes companies from all over the world, including those from the US, to invest and do business in China, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said on Monday at the opening ceremony of the 2019 Smart China Expo, held in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. 

"China firmly opposes technological blockades and trade protectionism. We would strive to protect the completeness of the industry chains and solve problems through negotiations, cooperation and with a calm attitude," Liu said. 

"China is definitely against upgrading the trade war. [Upgrading the trade war] is not good for China, the US or the world," he said. 

Liu also said that China will continue to create a welcoming investment environment, protect intellectual property rights and insist on promoting intelligent industries under opening-up conditions. He also stressed that China encourages companies to participate in fair competition. 

Liu made these comments shortly after US President Donald Trump, via a series of angry tweets on Friday, ordered US companies to "immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your (US) companies home and making your products in the US."

The world's two largest economies exchanged harsh tariff threat over the weekend with China announcing it would raise tariffs on $75 billion worth of US goods, while the US rolling out tariff increases on $550 billion of Chinese imports.

Despite the deteriorating trade relations and Trump's call for a departure from China, US companies are actually speeding up their pace to invest in China, with companies like Costco, Tesla and Starbucks either launching new products for China or revealing new investment plans in the country. 

Global Times