China to boost foreign investment through key platforms

China will double down on strengthening the role of national economic and technological development zones, optimizing national service industry pilot demonstrations, and promoting various platforms for opening up, as part of the effort to attract foreign investment, said an official with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Sunday.

China has reaffirmed its commitment to fostering a more open and investment-friendly economy with the release of a new action plan on stabilizing and promoting foreign investment in 2025. The country once again made a pledge to attract foreign investment during this year's annual sessions of the national legislature and the top political advisory body earlier this month. According to the MOC, there are currently 232 national economic and technological development zones in China. Despite accounting for less than 0.3 percent of the country's total land area, these zones contribute 10 percent of China's GDP and over one-fifth of paid-in total foreign investment.

In 2024, the 11 provinces and cities participating in the integrated demonstration endeavors for opening up the service sector attracted a total of 41.3 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investment, accounting for approximately 50.2 percent of total foreign investment in China's service sector.

The 2025 Action Plan for Stabilizing Foreign Investment, released in February, also emphasizes enhancing the effectiveness of platforms for opening up, improving the level of export-oriented economic development in national economic and technological development zones, and implementing upgrading strategies for free trade zones.

"With the implementation of the 2025 Action Plan for Stabilizing Foreign Investment, we believe foreign enterprises will have greater opportunities for development in China," said Wang Ya, deputy director general of the Department of Foreign Investment Administration under the MOC, told an event on the outcomes of the "two sessions" in Beijing.

Recent surveys also support this optimistic outlook. A survey report released by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China showed that 58 percent of its member companies will increase or maintain their investment scale in China this year. The American Chamber of Commerce in China also released a report indicating that 53 percent of the surveyed American companies plan to increase their investment in China in 2025.

China to boost foreign investment through key platforms

China to boost foreign investment through key platforms

China's top legislator Zhao Leji met with visiting President of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (Parlatino) Rolando Gonzalez Patricio in Beijing on Wednesday.

At the meeting, Zhao, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, noted that the keynote speech President Xi Jinping delivered at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing on Tuesday put forward five programs for the building of a community with a shared future between China and Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) countries, charting the direction for the development of China-LAC relations from a strategic height.

Zhao said the NPC is willing to take the forum as an opportunity to deepen friendly relations with Parlatino and to promote effective implementation of the event's outcome, expressing his belief that Parlatino will firmly adhere to the one-China principle as always.

Both sides should work to enhance political mutual trust, jointly create a favorable legal environment and public opinion foundation for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, strengthen communication among multilateral parliamentary organizations, and push for steady and sustained progress in building the China-LAC community with a shared future in the new era from the legislative body level, he said. Speaking on the same occasion, Gonzalez said Parlatino firmly adheres to the one-China principle and is willing to contribute to putting the forum's outcome into practice and promoting the building of the China-LAC community with a shared future.

China's top legislator meets visiting Parlatino president