Volker Stanzel said it was important the Chinese people and government treated European companies, which provide employment and pay taxes, exactly as they would Chinese firms.
"The major objective that we have in mind is concerning ourselves with the position of European companies that, from our European point of view, have turned into Chinese companies," Stanzel told a news briefing.
"If you have an American company, or a Japanese company, or a Chinese company, that brings investment to Germany, establishes a company in Germany under German law, then from out point of view that is ... a German company," he added.
Stanzel said the campaign, which should be unveiled by mid-February, was in response to unspecified complaints by European firms operating in China.
"What many of our European companies observe here in China is previous positive discrimination for foreign companies, easily explicable as foreign companies have bought things to China that helped it in its reform and opening process, tending to turn into negative discrimination," he said.
In recent months, debate in China about foreign investment has intensified over worries in some quarters that the country is surrendering key sectors to foreigners.
But others say the investment is vital to modernize China's economy and make its own companies more globally competitive.
Major European firms including Volkswagen AG, Nokia Oyj, Carrefour SA and chemicals group BASF have poured some $35 billion into China in the last five years, chasing breakneck economic growth.
China and the European Union have also had numerous trade spats -- most recently over shoes and textiles -- and Beijing remains displeased at the group's refusal to lift an arms embargo in place since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
Stanzel said details about the kinds of complaints received would be revealed at the same time the campaign was launched.
"It is not just foreign technology that a foreign company brings here, but very basic things that any Chinese company would also provide, like employment, social security and so on," he said. (Reuters)
