B. whereas the EU's foreign investment stock in China in 2011 amounted to EUR 102 billion, while China's foreign investment stock in the EU in the same year amounted to EUR 15 billion; whereas in 2006 China's foreign investment stock in the EU amounted to only EUR 3,5 billion;

B. whereas the EU’s foreign investment stock in China in 2011 amounted to EUR 102 billion, while China’s foreign investment stock in the EU in the same year amounted to EUR 15 billion; whereas in 2006 China’s foreign investment stock in the EU amounted to only EUR 3.5 billion;

6. Notes that Chinese enterprises perceive the Union generally as a stable investment environment, but deplore what they see as the EU's remaining export subsidies for European agricultural products and the existence of certain trade barriers to the EU market, such as technical obstacles to trade and barriers erected to block third-country investment in certain Member States, and that they are calling for the removal of the remaining unjustified barriers and the facilitation of investment in the Member States; recalls, however, that a security review mechanism to scrutinise foreign investments was recently set up in China and that the u ...[+++]se of such mechanisms by both parties may be based on legitimate grounds; points out that the EU and China may have legitimate security concerns that justify total or partial exclusion of some sectors from foreign investment on a temporary or long-term basis;

(5) In the interest of EU investors and their investments in third countries and of Member States hosting foreign investors and investments, bilateral agreements that specify and guarantee the conditions of foreign direct investment remain binding under public international law without prejudice to the right of the Commission to replace progressively existing direct foreign investment agreements with new agreements offering equal or better conditions to Member States.

Mutual Foreign direct investment (the deepest form of cross-border integration) across the Atlantic now amounts to over € 1.5 trillion and has grown considerably, even as political dissent flared over Iraq: over half the EU's foreign direct investment goes to the US, while almost two thirds of foreign investment inflow into the EU comes from the US.

(f) limitations on the participation of foreign capital in terms of maximum percentage limit on foreign shareholding or the total value of individual or aggregate foreign investment.