China Announces Reduction of Foreign Investment Negative List by End of June

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] China, which is showing signs of expanding its external opening measures in response to U.S. pressure on China, plans to announce a reduction of the foreign investment negative list by the end of June.

According to the "Key Opinions on the Implementation of Work Reports by Sector" published on the Chinese government website on the 11th (local time), the State Council of China decided to significantly reduce the negative list of restricted industries for foreign investment to actively utilize foreign investment. The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce are carrying out related work and plan to announce the reduced negative list by the end of June.

The State Council also decided, under the guidance of the Ministry of Commerce, to complete and announce the negative list for cross-border service trade by the end of December.

Furthermore, with the goal of deepening reform and opening up in economic special zones, it plans to continuously promote the creation of additional pilot free trade zones and comprehensive bonded zones in the central and western regions by the end of the year. The National Development and Reform Commission will take the lead in granting greater reform and opening-up autonomy to the pilot free trade zones. This year, China also intends to accelerate the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port.

This plan was prepared following the government work report at the National People's Congress held last month, where China announced its intention to stably attract foreign investment and create a fair market that treats foreign and Chinese companies equally.

Bai Ming, Deputy Director of the International Market Research Institute under the Ministry of Commerce of China, told Global Times, "The disclosure of specific plans indicates that China is about to introduce new reforms and opening-up measures that allow foreign investors broad market access," adding, "China is accelerating reform and opening-up to recover its economy, which was hit by COVID-19."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.