Senior US officials pressed China again yesterday to reduce barriers for foreign businesses, saying concerns have grown due to a more complex regulatory environment.

Foreign business confidence has been impacted by regulatory and protectionist worries, following a series of government investigations targeting foreign companies and the roll-out of a national security law limiting the use of overseas technology.

US business groups have also complained about new Chinese regulations they say favour local firms and make it more difficult to operate in China, as well as other laws related to national security.

“Concerns about the business climate have grown in recent years, with foreign businesses confronting a more complex regulatory environment and questioning whether they are welcome in China,” US Treasury secretary Jack Lew told Chinese and American businesses and officials.

“Our two governments have a responsibility to foster conditions that facilitate continued and increased investment, trade and commercial cooperation,” Lew said, on the second day of high-level talks between the two countries in Beijing.

“This means enacting policies that encourage healthy competition, ensuring predictability and transparency in the policy-making and regulatory process, protecting intellectual property rights and removing discriminatory investment barriers. These policies are vital as China seeks to build on its economic progress in recent decades.”

Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking at the same event, said that as the two economies become more intertwined in shared prosperity, they have more “skin in the game” to keep their economic relationship on an even keel.

“So we have to work on intellectual property. We have to work on transparency and accountability, we have to work on certainty and the rules of the road,” Kerry said, adding that certainty was critical for business.