The European Union tacitly advises the member states to keep its economic relationships with China to a minimum, according to Nicolae Vasilescu, the president of the Romanian-Chinese House.

He said the following in an interview: "One of the problems which Chinese investors are facing, politically speaking, is the tacit recommendation made at cocktail parties and by the governments of the EU, which basically says < let's not get too chummy with China, let's us cooperate among ourselves instead >. Some countries heed that more, others less. We chose to heed that to the letter".

Mr. Vasilescu claims that the Romanian authorities don't pay any attention to the businesspeople who come to develop businesses here: "The president of a very large company which manufactures cars in China came to Romania, stayed at a hotel in Bucharest for almost a week, waiting to be received by someone in the government, but it was all for nothing. Nobody from the government received these investors, who subsequently left for Bulgaria, where they were received by the Bulgarian Prime Minister and the Bulgarian president, and now, just 60 km from the border with Romania, there is a huge investment, which has generated 3,000 jobs. We couldn't even get them in for a talk".

Getting a visa is another hurdle which lies in the path of investors interested in developing their business in Romania, Nicolae Vasilescu said. According to him, whereas last year, the Romanian state issued 11,000 visas for Chinese citizens, Hungary issued 114,000 visas: "This means that the Hungarians are very permissive when it comes to the Chinese who want to come and invest in their country. Our visa policy is very restrictive. Sure, there are < recommendations > in this regard at the EU level, since we are a state which wants to join the Schengen area. Naturally, our borders need to be very well secured