China Opens More Sectors to Foreign Investment

Beijing: China has reduced the number of sectors and economic activities under restriction for foreign investors and firms in another step towards opening the economy, authorities said on Sunday.

The National Development and Reform Commission on Sunday published an updated “negative list” of sectors restricted for foreign investment, which now consists of 40 activities with restricted or no access to foreign investment, down from the 48 items mentioned in the last list, which came into effect in July 2018, reports Efe news.

The NDRC specified that it was no longer mandatory for domestic agencies of shipping, piped gas and heating in cities of more than 500,000 people to be controlled by Chinese entities. Wider investment access has also been granted in exploration and development of oil and gas, agriculture, services, mining, and manufacturing.

Foreign investors are also expected to be allowed to develop businesses as majority shareholders or on a freehold basis, having been forced until recently to collaborate with local companies in order to operate in most sectors in China. The new list will come into effect from July 30. The decision comes just a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump agreed to resume trade talks to resolve the one-year-old trade war in a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan’s Osaka. (IANS)

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