China might be making some progress on its reform agenda, but a lack of more ambitious changes will lead to an elevation in existing tensions bubbling in the global economic system, a new report from the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China warned.

"[M]uch of the opening that has taken place so far is of limited value to international businesses operating in China. For some, it is simply too little, too late, for others, it is that without complementary reforms, the opening is negligible," said the report, which traced the country's reform agenda since Chinese President Xi Jinping's Davos speech promoting globalization last year.

That's not to say that China has made no progress.

The EUCCC said Beijing has made some strides in some fields, including the stricter enforcement of environmental protection policies, streamlined measures at the local government level for businesses, standards-setting for consumer goods, and steps taken to encourage growth in the R&D industry.

Although the changes seen since the beginning of 2017 have been relatively swift, most of the measures taken to increase market access are best characterized as "necessary but insufficient," the EUCCC said.