by David Shepardson and Andrea Shalal

SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China has defended its trade practices after U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said U.S. companies told her the country had become “uninvestable”.

Gina Raimondo is the fourth senior official of Joe Biden’s administration to visit China since the beginning of the year and the diplomatic incident caused by the overflight of American territory by a Chinese spy balloon.

The United States and China on Tuesday affirmed their desire to strengthen their economic and trade ties, but Gina Raimondo’s comments highlighted the difficulties encountered by American companies to invest in China.

Asked about her message to American businesses in China, Gina Raimondo said, “The message is to keep doing what you’re doing. We want you to invest and grow here.”

But on Tuesday, the Commerce Secretary told reporters aboard a high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai that US companies had complained to her that China had become “uninvestable”, citing the fines, searches and other actions that have made doing business in the world’s second largest economy risky.

Most of the 70,000 American companies present in China want to stay there and nearly 90% of them are profitable, retorted the spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu.

Beijing is working to further facilitate market access for foreign companies, he added.

“China is actively pursuing its high-level opening up and striving to provide a world-class, market-oriented business environment governed by a sound legal framework,” he said. “China will only open its doors even wider to the outside world.”

The US Department of Commerce declined to comment.

International investors have been chilled by crackdowns in recent years in sectors ranging from e-commerce to education, and have been pulling out of Chinese assets en masse lately.

Net sales of Chinese stocks by foreign investors reached 82.9 billion yuan (10.46 billion euros) in August, a record. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is at its lowest level since records began 25 years ago.

Gina Raimondo is heading to Disneyland Shanghai, a joint venture between the Walt Disney Group and China’s state-owned Shendi Group, on Wednesday, the last day of her visit to the country.

(Reporting David Shepardson in Shanghai and Andrea Shalal in Washington, with contributions from Nicoco Chan and Jason Xue in Shanghai and Joe Cash, Martin Quin Polland, Yew Lun Tian and Laurie Chen in Beijing; Kate Entringer, editing by Blandine Hénault)

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