Beijing hails Portugal's openness to Chinese investment

Portugal is a country "open" to Chinese investment and could play a "constructive" role in economic relations between China and the European Union, the foreign minister of the Asian economic powerhouse said Friday. Speaking to reporters alongside his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva, Wang Yi praised Portugal's "open" attitude to foreign investment, adding that he hoped "Portugal will be able to continue to play a positive and constructive role in the economic, trade and investment relationship between China and the european Union". He said he hoped this would allow Portugal to "adequately address the differences that exist between China and the European Union". Beijing, for its part, would "continue to encourage Chinese companies to invest regularly" in Portugal, he added. In order to get out of the 2011 debt crisis, Portugal welcomed several Chinese investors in the energy, insurance and banking sectors. Last week, the Chinese energy behemoth Three Gorges announced a takeover bid of Portugal's electricity company EDP, of which it is already the largest shareholder. EDP rejected the offer as too low on Tuesday.