Investment drive underway for key sectors, especially manufacturing and high-tech

Restrictions on foreign investment will be cut further and challenges facing foreign companies investing in China will be addressed, the country's top commerce official said.

The negative list - which restricts foreign investment in certain industries - will be further cut nationwide, including the 12 pilot free trade zones, and full foreign ownership will be allowed in more sectors, Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency on Saturday.

He specifically outlined a push for foreign investment in the fields of manufacturing and high-tech industries as well as boosting it in central and western regions, adding that local governments will help foreign companies address difficulties.

To build a favorable environment, the ministry will push for a foreign investment law and improve local-government handling of complaints from foreign businesses, the minister said.

As a major global investment destination, China maintained stable growth in foreign direct investment against a gloomy global setting. Its FDI grew by 3 percent year-on-year to $135 billion in 2018, while globally it dropped 41 percent, and among developed countries it fell 69 percent, in the first half of last year, Zhong said.

The World Bank pushed China up 32 places in its business environment rankings, and 95 percent of companies surveyed by the Washington-headquartered US-China Business Council, in findings released in December, said they would increase investment or maintain their presence in China.

"The Chinese market has huge potential and sound prospects," said Zhong. The country's goods consumption is expected to achieve 9.1 percent growth in the year to 2018 to 38 trillion yuan ($5.6 trillion), continuing its run as the biggest growth driver for five consecutive years.

Eager to enlarge market share, a number of multinationals such as German automaker BMW and Exxon-Mobil of the United States, announced big-ticket investment plans in China last year.

California-based Tesla broke ground with its Shanghai plant on Jan 7, becoming the first to benefit from a new policy allowing foreign carmakers to set up wholly-owned subsidiaries in China. At $7.3 billion, it is also the city's biggest-ever foreign investment in manufacturing.

BASF, the German chemical giant, also signed a framework agreement with the Guangdong provincial government last week to further clarify the planning details for its $10 billion Verbund chemical complex in Zhanjiang city.

Zhong said the ministry will further stimulate domestic consumption this year, with measures to facilitate urban consumption upgrades, tap into the potential in rural areas, build modern supply chains and support services consumption.

Holding the second China International Import Expo, properly handling trade frictions with the United States and pushing forward pilot FTZs and the Hainan free trade port are major tasks of the ministry.

These are practical measures to build a predictable and transparent business environment for global investors and ensure that they are given fair market treatment, said Zhang Yansheng, a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

"The Ministry of Commerce is planning to add areas to the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and designing policies to build a Hainan free-trade port, to bolster growth," said Tang Wenhong, director-general of the ministry's department of foreign investment administration.

zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn