(From Davos) China’s Economic Micromanaging Unsustainable
Thursday, January 27, 2011
(Reuters) – Belgium’s economy minister said on Wednesday that heavy state involvement in emerging market economies is unsustainable, and it urged China to open sectors up to foreign companies.
Vincent van Quickenborne, Belgian minister of economy and reform, told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos that China gives hefty state subsidies to companies such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL.
“In certain sectors like energy, construction, transport, telecommunications, national champions are protected because there’s a tendency to fence off the market from foreign companies, and there are subsidized loans at the rate of $30 billion for Huawei,” van Quickenborne said.
“The country is closed. If you want to compete in these sectors, there’s no way you can get in. That’s the problem I have with China’s state capitalism. Governments should be a referee, not an actor in the economy.”
