"We are quickening the full opening of market access for foreign investors in banking, securities and insurance sectors," Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said. (EPA-EFE via Straits Time)

China Opens More Sectors to Foreign Investment

Beijing announced on Sunday (6/30) that it will lift restrictions on foreign investment in more sectors with a new negative list started from July 30.

The announcement rolls out on a day after President Xi Jinping and the US President Donald Trump met on the sidelines during the G-20 Summit in Japan, agreeing to restart trade talks between the two world’s biggest economies which were abruptly halted in May.

Foreign investors in China have long complained of unfair treatment which restricts them in sectors including telecommunication services, entertainment, cinema, gas pipelines, and maritime transport.

The negative list states which industries in China are regulated for foreign investment. According to the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country has released two new negative lists of 2019; One for the piloted Free Trade Zones (FTZ) that now have 37 listed sectors, down from 45, for the foreign investor. While in the non-FTZ areas, the list will reduce 48 sectors down to 40.

China has actually adopted a regulation in March to provide foreign investors the same privilege as Chinese companies in most sectors, except those included in the negative list.

Earlier this month at Beijing's opulent Great Hall of the People, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also promised to the representative of multinational companies, saying that China’s market would be more opened to non-Chinese businesses.

Since last year, China and the US have been embroiled in a trade war—setting tariffs on goods in the two-way trade that worth US$360 billion. Trump has demanded China implement structural reforms that guarantee an even treatment for foreign companies.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/beijing-opens-more-sectors-to-foreign-investment-11675276