Recently, the State Council issued the Notification on Some Measures for Expanding Opening-up and Actively Utilizing Foreign Investment(short for Some Measures hereinafter), signifying a more fair and more convenient investment environment for foreign-funded enterprises in China.

Foreign investment has played an active role to China’s economic development and reform all along, and promoted foreign trade, technical progress and industrial upgrading. China’s enormous consumption market also offered extensive space and development opportunities. However, in recent years, some foreign enterprises, especially manufacturing ones, moved outward, even triggering the worry about “withdrawal tide” of foreign investment.

China’s foreign investment application is under the period of advantage change and structural period, said the person in charge of National Development and Reform Commission. The situation meets the law of economy with the rise of element cost. While objectively considering it, we should also deal with it actively. The launch of Some Measures starts from improvement of our system environment to create more development space for foreign-funded enterprises.

Aiming at the problems, Some Measures consists of 20 articles for three aspects, i.e. further expanding opening-up, further creating fair competition environment, and further intensifying foreign investment attraction. The measures are concrete and clear, and quite pertinent and workable.

For example, as for encouraging foreign enterprises’ investment to manufacturing and real economy, the measures proposes: the Made in China 2025 policies and measures applicable to foreign- and domestic-funded enterprises equally; further opening-up of manufacturing with cancellation of foreign investment restrictions to rail traffic equipment manufacturing, motorcycle manufacturing, production of fuel ethanol, oil processing and other fields; and emphasis on supporting manufacturing projects in investment promotion preferential policies launched by local governments within their jurisdiction.

Fair and just business environment has been the concern of foreign-funded enterprises. China was blamed for a worsening business environment by foreign enterprises. So, seven measures were issued for this, such as, it is not allowed to add restrictions to foreign-funded enterprise without authorization when examining the fair competition policies for foreign-funded enterprises; applying unified approval standard for license and qualification application to domestic- and foreign-funded enterprises; and supporting foreign-funded enterprises to expand financing channels and go public in the main board, SME board and the Growth Enterprise Market.

China’s investment environment has made great improvement, said Wang Shouwen, vice minister of Ministry of Commerce. But, we need to continue making efforts and try our best to make foreign enterprises feel that investment is more convenient in China than in their motherlands, and the investment environment is further improved.

Notably, the Some Measures advance complete and systematic policies and measures, covering not only the preparatory stage prior to foreign investment access, but also the operation stage after foreign investment access, not only the policies at the Central Government level, but also the implementation at the local government level. It is a full reflection of the concern of relevant authorities.

 

Source: Translated from Invest Guangzhou, Jan. 18, 2017