The 2015 Central Economic Work Conference pointed out that efforts will be made in improving foreign investment utilization environment, attaching great importance to the legal rights and interests of foreign-funded enterprises, and the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), and fairly treating domestic- and foreign-funded enterprises.

 

At the interview by Commercial News, He Manqing, director of Institute of Foreign Investment, Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of Ministry of Commerce, said that foreign-funded enterprises often mentioned Chinese defects in “soft business environment” including rising cost, shortage of talents and low transparency of policies and regulations in the annual reports on Chinese commercial environment issued by American Chamber of Commerce in China and European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. “Chinese government pays great attention to improvement of soft environment,” He said, “the Central Economic Work Conference defined three measures to optimize soft environment: first, protecting the legal rights and interests of foreign-funded enterprises; second, protecting their intellectual property rights (IPR); and third, fairly treating domestic- and foreign-funded enterprises in market access and other aspects.”

 

Comparing with that in the past, China’s foreign investment introduction environment is improving in general. “The comparative advantages like low cost and high economic growth are weakening. Foreign-funded enterprises do not enjoy the super-national treatment any more. But the infrastructures are being optimized, the system bonus being highlighted and the matching industrial environment being improved to world first class,” He added.

 

According to Ding Jihua, vice director of Beijing New Century Academy on Transnational Corporations, the Central Economic Work Conference is pertinent to improve foreign investment utilization to some degree.

 

“Currently, IPR is the primary concern for foreign investment in China,” Ding said, “all European, American, Japanese and Korean enterprises stated that Chinese government was not powerful enough in IPR protection. Despite of Chinese government’s constant intensification in the aspect, there is still some gap with foreign enterprises’ expectation. ”

 

At the multilateral and bilateral investment and trade agreement negotiations, IPR protection has become an important topic. “Encouraging foreign-funded enterprises to attend our economic transformation and upgrading needs to protect their enthusiasm in innovation. It is a good choice to start from IPR protection,” Ding added.

 

As for the principle of “fairly treating domestic- and foreign-funded enterprises” set forth at the Central Economic Work Conference and foreign-funded enterprises’ complaints about Chinese government’s “glass door” in administrative examinations and approvals, Ding continued that this principle embodies the country’s strategic direction in foreign investment application and the necessary requirement for building a high-level opening-up economic system in China.

 

Source: Translated from Invest Guangzhou, Dec. 23, 2015