SHANGHAIWASHINGTON, Aug 30 Reuters China has defended its business practices after U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said American firms had told her it had become uninvestible, highlighting a trend of global investors turning away from assets in the world39;s secondlargest economy.

The commerce secretary is the latest Biden administration official to visit China in a bid to strengthen communications, particularly on economics and defense, amid concern that friction between the two superpowers could spiral out of control.

She insists the United States does not want to decouple from China but her comment on the difficulties U.S. businesses face have shone a harsh light on trade and investment flows between the geopolitical rivals.

Asked to respond to the comments Raimondo made in China, the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu said that most of the 70,000 U.S. firms doing business in China wanted to stay, that nearly 90 were profitable, and that Beijing was working to further ease market access for foreign companies.

China is actively advancing its highlevel openingup and making efforts to provide a worldclass, marketoriented business environment governed by a sound legal framework, he said. China will only open its doors even wider to the outside world.

The Commerce Department declined to comment.

Global investors, who have been spooked by unpredictable crackdowns on sectors from ecommerce to education in recent years, have been…