Foreign expansion by Chinese companies supported by favourable government policy of the People’s Republic of China is a relatively new phenomenon and still of marginal importance in industrialized countries of the Western world. However, its dynamics and potential are impressive. And it is precisely this medium-term perspective of the phenomenon that raises a few uneasy questions about the economic and political results of the Chinese business expansion. That is why the goal of this paper is to present, using economic terms, the scale and the importance of the phenomenon, as well as to try to determine several specific features of the Chinese business expansion in the European Union. The main challenges resulting from the increasing Chinese presence in Europe are disturbances in the free market competition and the risk of strategic asset transfers to China at the expense of acquired companies in Europe. In the short term, problems may arise due to the high risk of failure of Chinese activities in Europe (resulting from the lack of relevant experience in such a different environment), and due to numerous differences in business culture and practices generating con- fl icts with employees and external partners.