China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on September 8 jointly issued the 2024 “negative list” for foreign investment access, as part of the country's latest efforts to promote wider opening-up to the outside world. The latest version of the negative list will take effect on November 1, according to the NDRC, the country's top economic planner. The further reduction of the negative list is the first one in three years, and has now removed all restrictions in the manufacturing sector in the national version. The two restrictions which remained until now involved publication and printing as well as the application and production of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
The previous version, published in 2021, took effect on January 1, 2022. The total number of items on the negative list, or restricted sectors for foreign investment, has been reduced from 31 items in the 2021 version to 29 in the latest version. The NDRC will collaborate with industry authorities to conduct more pilot programs in related industrial fields, utilizing platforms like free trade pilot zones and free trade ports. The NDRC will also continue to optimize policies to promote foreign investment. It is currently revising the catalog of encouraged foreign investment industries, increasing access to the services sector, the official said. “China's efforts toward opening-up extend well beyond the negative list. This contrasts sharply with the trade protectionism adopted by some developed countries in the West,” Li Yong, Senior Research Fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times, noting that China is contributing to a cooperative global investment and trade landscape.
The negative list for foreign investment access that took effect on January 1, 2022 includes two versions – the national version and the free trade zone version. The free trade zone version has achieved “zero” access restrictions for manufacturing. In the national version, only two restrictions remained for the manufacturing sector. The latest version of the negative list, released on September 8, also removed those two restrictions. Li said that the removal of all restrictions to the manufacturing sector demonstrates that, despite being a major manufacturing country, China maintains an open stance with no protectionism in its manufacturing sector, the Global Times reports.
China also plans to allow wholly-owned foreign hospitals in seven cities and one province: Beijing; Tianjin; Shanghai; Nanjing (Jiangsu province); Fuzhou (Fujian province); Guangzhou and Shenzhen (Guangdong province); and Hainan province, the Ministry said in a statement released on its official website. The hospitals should not specialize in traditional Chinese medicine, it specified. The specific conditions, requirements and procedures for establishing the hospitals will be released later, said the statement, which was jointly released by the National Health Commission (NHC) and the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). The move comes as part of efforts aimed at expanding the opening-up of the healthcare sector, attracting foreign investment to promote the high-quality development of medical services and better meeting the medical needs of the public, the statement said. It added that from September 8, foreign-invested enterprises are allowed to research and develop technologies focused on human stem cells, gene diagnosis and treatment in the pilot free trade zones (FTZs) in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong province, as well as the Hainan Trade Free Port. They can also apply for market registration and mass production licenses in China for their products and those approved can be used nationwide. The statement also called for the stepping up of services for foreign enterprises willing to participate in trial programs, the China Daily reports.
According to the South China Morning Post, foreign enterprises will not be allowed to acquire public hospitals.
