China Drafts Plan To Ease Limits On Foreign Investment

China is gearing up to ease restrictions on foreign investment in some of its sectors in an effort to improve the efficiency of its companies as well as bringing in new technologies, China’s top regulator said on Tuesday, state-run Xinhua News Agency reports.

The plan is aimed at opening up China’s manufacturing and service sectors, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the nation’s top economic planning agency said.

The drafted plan will cut the number of sectors which China has placed foreign investment limits to 35 from the current 79, the NDRC said.

According to the draft, China will no longer limit foreign investment in such sectors as steel, ethylene, oil refining, paper making, and premium spirits, the report said.

Some of these sectors, such as steel, have faced production overcapacity.

“Allowing foreign investment to enter industries with overcapacity and outdated technology can accelerate efforts to upgrade the industrial structure through market competition,” Long Guoqiang, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council, told Xinhua.

The NDRC said that these measures are aimed at adapting to a more globalized economy and will help China speed along its “opening up” process while also improving transparency.

“The focus will be on opening up manufacturing and services sectors to the outside,” the NDRC said, adding that the measures will help to boost the nation’s global competitiveness.

The draft lists a total of 349 sectors in China that will welcome foreign investment, however the nation will continue to ban foreign investment in a total of 36 of its sectors, according to the draft rules, Xinhua said.

The NDRC said that it is looking for public feedback on the proposed revisions by the 3^rd of December.

Source: Xinhua