China: anti-trust probes targeting foreign firms

Since 2013, China’s anti-trust regulators have drastically stepped up the enforcement of China’s competition law against foreign firms. Major EU and Japanese automobile companies have recently been heavily fined for alleged price-fixing and monopolistic conduct.

Western media and business lobbies have claimed that Chinese anti-trust investigations have targeted foreign companies in a discriminatory manner, and that China is using competition law as a tool to promote industrial policy objectives.

Chinese official statements and media outlets, on the contrary, have emphasised that anti-trust probes have been launched against Chinese and foreign companies equally, and are aimed at creating a ‘fair, open and transparent market‘ and enhancing consumer protection.