China lifts all access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing sector

China on Sunday announced to life all access restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing industry, as part of the latest efforts to promote wider opening up to the rest of the world.

The 2024 "negative list" for foreign investment access, issued on the Sunday, will come into effect on Nov. 1, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's economic planner. This marks the first update to the "negative list" in three years.

According to the latest version, the only two restrictions for the manufacturing sector - "publication and printing must be controlled by Chinese parties" and "the application of processing techniques such as steaming, frying, roasting, and calcining for traditional Chinese medicine, and the production of confidential prescriptions for Chinese patent medicines" will be removed.

It means that from Nov 1, foreign-invested firms will fully enjoy the same access treatment in China's manufacturing field as their Chinese counterparts.

"Lifting all access restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector is an important measure to build new systems for a higher-level open economy. It marks China's further progress in high-level opening up and demonstrates China's unswerving determination to promote investment liberalization and facilitation," said Hua Zhong, director of the Department of Foreign Capital and Overseas Investment under the NDRC.

The foreign investment access negative list has undergone several revisions since China first issued the negative list for the Shanghai Free Trade Zone in 2013. Over the past decade, the total number of items on the "negative list," or restricted sectors for foreign investment, has now been reduced from 93 items to 29 in the latest version.

"Expanding opening-up to the world has proved to be a very beneficial attempt by China to actively explore a path of opening-up with Chinese characteristics. The move to gradually reduce restrictive and prohibited items on the negative list has played a very positive role in attracting foreign investment into China," said Zhang Wei, vice president of Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.

Foreign investment in China has covered 20 categories of industries and 115 major industry sectors.

From 2017 to 2023, paid-in foreign investment in China increased 25 percent, and that in high-tech manufacturing up 37.4 percent.

"Everything which opens the market, we appreciate. China really has [a strong] manufacturing base. We really want to be localized, with local talents engaged, with local innovation, local research and development, and of course, our local manufacturing. And I believe we will see also trends in the future that innovation in China, for China will be expanded to innovation to global markets from China," said Maximilian Butek, executive director of German Chamber of Commerce in China-East China.

In the future, China will further ease market access for foreign investment in the service sector, promote orderly opening up of such areas as telecommunications, Internet and education, and encourage and guide foreign investment in sectors like advanced manufacturing, modern service industries, high-tech, energy conservation and environmental protection.

"We will expand the opening of the comprehensive pilot demonstration in the service sector, enhance opening-up and innovation in emerging areas such as value-added telecom, health care, the digital economy and new types of consumption, and encourage more long-term, high-quality foreign investment into China's capital market," said Meng Huating, deputy director-general of the Foreign Investment Department under the Ministry of Commerce.

China lifts all access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing sector

President Xi Jinping's participation in the 2024 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, the 19th G20 Summit, and his recently concluded state visits to Peru and Brazil will usher in a new chapter of South-South cooperation, experts said.

Xi returned to Beijing on Saturday following an 11-day, two-nation tour of Latin America.

At the 19th G20 Summit in Lima, Peru, Xi called for building a world economy characterized by cooperation, stability, openness, innovation, and eco-friendliness. This is widely seen as a reflection of China's strong commitment to fostering a fair and equitable global governance system.

Xi summarized the reasons behind the 'Asia-Pacific Miracle' and urged Asia-Pacific economies to uphold true multilateralism, build an open and integrated cooperation framework, foster green and innovative growth momentum, and embrace a universally beneficial and inclusive development concept. "President Xi stressed the importance of creating an open and integrated Asia-Pacific cooperation pattern. This reflects a commitment to the openness and inclusiveness of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation, ensuring it is open to all economies. On the other hand, on the momentum of green innovation cooperation, President Xi has made many profound expositions on integrating green innovation, a trend of our times, with the shift toward digitalization and intelligence. Lastly, he emphasized establishing a concept of universally beneficial and inclusive development. This aligns closely with the new development concepts of innovation, coordination, greenness, openness and sharing that we advocate in China," director of the Department for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the China Institute of International Studies.

During Xi's state visit to Peru, the two heads of state attended the opening ceremony of Chancay Port via video link. As a flagship project of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between China and Peru, the port is the first smart and green port in South America, significantly reducing transoceanic shipping times. Meanwhile, the port is the starting point for a new land-sea corridor connecting Asia and Latin America, fostering a three-dimensional, diversified, and efficient interconnection framework.

"The shipping time from the Chancay Port to Shanghai, China, is just 23 days, significantly reducing maritime shipping time. Meanwhile, we see that neighboring countries, including Brazil and Chile, have begun planning road network connections with the Chancay Port. This will allow Peru to play a very important role in the region in the future. Furthermore, this new shipping route not only diversifies trade between China and Peru but also creates greater opportunities for trade diversification between China and Latin America as a whole," said Yue Yunxia, deputy director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

During Xi's state visit to Brazil, the two heads of state announced elevating their bilateral relationship to a China-Brazil community with a shared future, aimed at fostering a more just world and a more sustainable planet.

"I think the important thing is that it provides a new model for China-Latin America relations, which will likely play a leading role for China and the entire Latin American region in the future. Moreover, I think the collaboration between China and Brazil will undoubtedly drive the trend of unity among developing countries, particularly those in the Global South. On a global scale, this cooperation between China and Brazil will certainly accelerate the overall rise of developing countries," said Sun Yanfeng, executive director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

Xi's Latin America trip opens up new chapter of South-South cooperation: experts