As has been revealed by an American Chamber of Commerce survey, which was released in Beijing today, the new regulations being adopted by China in order to encourage local technology are substantially hurting US companies and making them lose sales.

Out of the total 203 members responding to the survey, about 28% said that they are actually losing business because of the new rules. Among the technology firms, as many as 37% of the 49 total respondents stressed that business was being hurt now, with as many as 57% forecasting that their sales and business would be hurt in the near future.

"What has caused all this hullabaloo is that this indigenous innovation policy seems clearly aimed at forcing foreign technology here so that Chinese companies can tweak it and call it their own. Many foreign companies are starting to believe that the future China business opportunity is shrinking", said James McGregor, Senior Counselor in Beijing at APCO Worldwide, a renowned public affairs firm.

Overseas businesses which currently have operations across China are mainly concerned that the rules are "discriminatory" and would end up locking them out of a Government-procurement market which was valued at about
599.1 Billion Yuan ($87.8 Billion) in 2008.