By Yin Lei
China will fully open up its manufacturing sector and improve the accessibility of more other sectors under the newly amended negative lists for foreign investments, as reported by the China Securities Journal on Tuesday.
These revised negative lists, to be released soon, consist of one list made for the whole country and another one dedicated to the pilot free trade zones only, with the latter of them expected to put fewer restrictions on inbound investments.
These new foreign investment negative lists will have two features, according to Yan Pengcheng, spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Foreign investors will see a significant reduction in investment restrictions, not only in the number of restricted fields but also in the key sectors accessible to them.
The new lists will offer a higher level of predictability, as they will outline the roadmaps and timetables for some of the sectors to be opened up in the future.
In the past five years, the NDRC and the Ministry of Commerce have amended the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries twice, which contains the negative list. The 2017 amendments put restrictions or bans on 63 fields of investments, 30 less than the previous version published in 2015.
Under these two upcoming negative lists, the manufacturing sector is expected to be fully open to foreign investors. The above 2017 amendments already allowed them to invest in most manufacturing fields at home.
The full opening-up of the manufacturing sector should not just cover more fields; it should be subject to a roadmap, a timetable, a definite transition period, and a higher level of predictability, believed Bai Ming, an expert of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation at the Ministry of Commerce.
The two new lists may also ease or lift restrictions in fields like energy, resources, infrastructure, transport, logistics and professional services, etc.
