"We refer to market access barriers as one of the primary reasons for lowered investment," said AmCham chairman Greg Gilligan.

 

With slower growth, our member companies do not reflect less need for investment, but perhaps less need for investment based on the old economic model that was more reliant on exports and infrastructure spending," he said.

 

"China's economy expanded 7.4 per cent year on year in the first quarter, its slowest in 18 months," Mr Gilligan adding that concerns over market access and slower growth are greater this year than before.

 

At a plenum meeting of the Communist Party last November, China announced ambitious reforms that signalled the shift of China's economy from infrastructure and export growth towards a slower expansion.

 

AmCham said industrial policies that support Chinese state-owned enterprises was its big complaint.

 

"State-owned enterprises have increased their control over certain sectors of the economy in recent years, and government support for SOEs was overwhelmingly cited by AmCham China members as the most negative industrial policy, chosen more frequently than other options combined," said the report.

 

Forty per cent of member firms surveyed felt targeted by Chinese media and feared retribution if they defended themselves through the Chinese legal system.