China 'opening wider' for foreign investment

BEIJING - China will "open wider" to the world by encouraging foreign companies to invest, for the first time, in certain industries under a new draft regulating foreign investment, experts said.

The select industries, in the recently released Foreign Direct Investment Industry Guidelines, include high-tech, clean energy, aerospace and aviation, new materials, high-end manufacturing and advanced logistics. The guidelines will replace the previous version, published in 2007.

There are also changes in the services sector with vocational education and training encouraged in the guidelines and the medical professions are no longer excluded.

"The new version highlights China's commitment to opening wider and further in both high-end manufacturing and the modern service sectors," said Wang Zhile, director of the research center on transnational corporations under the Ministry of Commerce.

"It is also in line with China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) on building itself into a more innovative society and on improving social welfare."

The guidelines come after a foreign direct investment (FDI) directive was issued last April encouraging more investment in the high-tech, renewable energy and service sectors, and to focus more on western and central areas.

The guidelines follow criticism by some foreign companies of China's investment environment in the latter half of last year.

"China has no reason to say no to the opening-up policy," said Li Xiaogang, director of the Foreign Investment Research Center at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

"The more open China is to the world, the more benefits China will get and the more competitive local industry will be.