Abstract : Despite a coronavirus-triggered recession looming large for the world, China remains a gold mine for global investors amid the country's unswerving efforts to create a better business environment with easier market access, more benefits, and improved services.
BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — Despite a coronavirus-triggered
recession looming large for the world, China remains a gold mine for
global investors amid the country’s unswerving efforts to create a
better business environment with easier market access, more benefits,
and improved services.
According to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report, China has
made greater progress in the 2005-2020 period than any other large
economy in terms of facilitating the ease of doing business, with its
global ranking rising to the 31st position among 190 economies globally
from the 78th in the 2018 report.
A MAGNET WITH IMPROVING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland, in actual
use, expanded by 15.8 percent year on year in July, marking the fourth
consecutive month for the country to witness positive FDI growth,
according to data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).
Uniqlo, a clothing brand under the Japan-based Fast Retailing Group,
opened 19 chain stores in China in August, entering six new cities,
including Zhejiang’s Tongxiang, and Jiangsu’s Danyang.
“It signals our confidence in the Chinese market and the Chinese
economy,” said Jalin Wu, Chief Marketing Officer of Uniqlo Greater
China, adding that the company hopes to explore opportunities in more
third-tier and lower-tier cities.
Uniqlo was not the only example. A total of 18,838 new
overseas-funded enterprises were established on the Chinese mainland in
the first seven months, a vote of confidence in the market.
To encourage foreign investment, China has taken multi-pronged
measures to open its market wider. The country’s 2020 version of the
negative lists for foreign investment, which took effect in July,
reduced the number of sectors that are off-limits for foreign investors
to 33 from 40 in the 2019 version. The negative list for pilot free
trade zones also cut the number of prohibited industries to 30 from 37.
According to the new lists, foreign ownership caps on securities,
fund management, futures, life insurance companies, as well as
commercial vehicle enterprises are removed, and more opportunities in
agriculture, medicine, minerals, fuel, infrastructure, and education are
offered to foreign investors.
The country put into effect the landmark foreign investment law on
Jan. 1, 2020, providing institutional protection for the interests of
foreign investors. It grants foreign-invested enterprises access to
government procurement markets through fair competition and bans the use
of administrative licensing and penalties to force foreign investors
and firms to transfer technology.
In south China’s Hainan Province, a “single window” program for
international investment was officially launched on Aug. 13, providing
one-stop services for foreign investors, and enabling foreign-funded
firms to complete the registration procedure in two working days.
China will help foreign-funded companies solve prominent problems and
create a more law-based, internationalized, and convenient business
environment, said Zong Changqing, an official with the MOC.
A BIGGER CAKE FOR ALL
As China upgrades its industrial sector and seeks new growth drivers,
foreign investors are expected to get a slice of a bigger cake.
China is soliciting opinions on the draft of the 2020 version
industrial catalog in which foreign investment is encouraged. Aimed at
attracting more foreign investment in the high-quality development of
manufacturing, producer services, and to the central and western
regions, the draft has proposed extending the coverage of investment in
sectors such as raw material, research and development, modern
logistics, information services, and e-commerce.
The country is pushing the construction of new infrastructures,
attracting foreign investors to tap into these opportunities, along with
domestic firms, amid a boom in the industry.
French corporation Schneider Electric signed a strategic cooperation
deal with China’s battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. on
Aug. 5, intending to cooperate in fields including green smart
factories, new energy power generation, safe power use, and energy
storage.
Among the 54 foreign-funded projects signed on July 22 in Shanghai,
15 are in the field of new infrastructure construction, covering sectors
including network technology, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and
integrated circuits.
The new infrastructure is becoming a new opportunity for foreign
companies to invest in China amid the global economic recession since
the COVID-19 outbreak. The huge market is bound to attract foreign
companies, said Zhu Keli, a researcher on the new economy with the
Development Research Center of the State Council. Enditem
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Source: Economic Watch: China nurtures fertile ground for foreign investors
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