Sieren's China

"China is not a source of risks for the global economy; China is a driver of world economic growth," Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told over 1,700 top business leaders in his speech to open the World Economic Forum in the eastern Chinese city of Dalian on Thursday. "We are pressing ahead with structural reform to advance structural adjustment," he promised.

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China has a different opinion. It has criticized the fact that the Chinese government is not pushing through fast enough the market reforms that it promised two years ago and has not abolished certain trade restrictions. Those are the most important points of a 441-page position paper that the chamber presented this week.

It says that instead of a more open market, access to the market is being made more complicated for foreign and private firms. Taken individually, the demands are very justified. It is important to make this clear.

However, the chamber's conclusion is somewhat excessive. "If China renovates its house, then the question for European companies is whether they will be allowed inside in future or will have to stay outside," the chamber's president Jörg Wuttke said in Beijing (pictured at top).

Of course, the house of China will need foreign tenants in future. However, the fact that renovation will up the rent is also clear. The landlord will also be very aware of who complained so loudly because of the alleged noise and mess.

No alternative to the Chinese market

That's why so much depends on the right tone in the current difficult economic situation. Especially because the European tenants do not have a serious alternative to China - and Beijing, of course, knows this. The International Monetary Fund and the most recent G20 meeting of finance ministers have showed that more can be done for one's interests with a less confrontative tone. They did not taunt China, but tried to persuade the government to move forward in the right places.

For its part, Beijing should be bright enough to listen to the criticism from Europe before resentment gets out of control. The disappointment about the free trade zone set up in Shanghai in 2013 is not only real but justified. In this economic situation, it is not very bright to reduce land use rights for industrial projects from 50 to 20 years, as recently happened in Shanghai. Some companies will now think twice about investing. A general evaluation of the European economy should provide Beijing with food for thought. Every other European company feels at a disadvantage compared to Chinese competitors. Fair play looks different.

DW's Frank Sieren has lived in Beijing for 20 years.