Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong defended efforts by Chinese companies to take stakes in German companies, saying such deals benefitted both sides. “Concerns about a ‘sell-off of Germany’ are completely unfounded,” Liu said in Hamburg, days after news that U.S. authorities had recommended blocking the sale of German chip equipment maker Aixtron to China’s Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC). Liu also warned the West against imposing anti-dumping duties against Chinese steel. So far this year, Chinese investors have agreed 47 deals to buy German targets, worth a total of €10.3 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data, up from 29 deals worth €263 million in 2015. Liu said that Chinese firms accounted for less than 1% of foreign investments in Germany, but German firms had invested considerably more in China.