Local governments in China are aggressively funding delegations to drum up business overseas. Large groups including Chinese city and business officials have made hundreds of trips abroad since early December in search of foreign investment.
Meanwhile, a recent U.S. trade report called out Beijing for continuing to give Chinese companies an unfair advantage and says Washington will protect the competitiveness of U.S. companies.
As local governments scramble to hit growth and employment targets, authorities are introducing financial subsidies for foreign trade companies to go overseas to “grab new orders, expand the market.”
That slogan was shouted by a 200-strong delegation from Jiangsu in December as it boarded a private jet to Europe, in online footage posted by the local government….