Beijing - China’s largest business group said on Thursday that it would rethink the investment environment in the United States after the US Senate approved a controversial bill aimed at making Beijing lift the value of the yuan.
The comments by the China Chamber of International Commerce, which represents over 70 000 Chinese large trade firms and investors, echo the angry diatribe from other Chinese government bodies on Wednesday after the bill was passed.
China has urged the Obama administration to stymie the bill, labelling it “protectionist”.
“We have always supported our members to invest in the United States... but the bill has forced us to reconsider the investment environment in the United States,” the business group said.
It said its members’ investments and purchases in the United States have created millions of jobs for Americans.
Chinese officials and media have warned that the legislation could trigger a “trade war” of escalating protectionist tit-for-tat retaliation, raising the risk of further strains between the world’s top two economies.
China, America’s biggest foreign creditor and its fastest-growing major export market, could strike back at the United States if the currency legislation is passed. But analysts say such shapeless threats are more bluster to reassure domestic audiences than a real option.
According to the New York-based Rhodium Group, a consulting firm specialising in tracking outbound Chinese investment into the United States, China’s direct investments in the United States have been soaring in recent years, with 13 greenfield projects and five acquisitions in the second quarter of 2011 alone.
The comments by the China Chamber of International Commerce, which represents over 70 000 Chinese large trade firms and investors, echo the angry diatribe from other Chinese government bodies on Wednesday after the bill was passed.
China has urged the Obama administration to stymie the bill, labelling it “protectionist”.
“We have always supported our members to invest in the United States... but the bill has forced us to reconsider the investment environment in the United States,” the business group said.
It said its members’ investments and purchases in the United States have created millions of jobs for Americans.
Chinese officials and media have warned that the legislation could trigger a “trade war” of escalating protectionist tit-for-tat retaliation, raising the risk of further strains between the world’s top two economies.
China, America’s biggest foreign creditor and its fastest-growing major export market, could strike back at the United States if the currency legislation is passed. But analysts say such shapeless threats are more bluster to reassure domestic audiences than a real option.
According to the New York-based Rhodium Group, a consulting firm specialising in tracking outbound Chinese investment into the United States, China’s direct investments in the United States have been soaring in recent years, with 13 greenfield projects and five acquisitions in the second quarter of 2011 alone.