The minister of commerce says that Beijing plans to further open a slew of the country’s key industries to foreign investment, as well as better safeguard the intellectual property rights of overseas parties in China.
Speaking at a press conference on 11 March for China’s 13th National People’s Congress, minister of commerce Zhong Shan (钟山), sought to assuage the concerns of jittery foreign investors.
“We’ve noted that some foreign invested enterprises have complaints about China’s investment environment, which shows that they also are paying attention to China’s growth and are confident in the Chinese market.
“If they don’t have any complaints, then they don’t have any confidence [in us.] We will earnestly listen to their opinions and heed their voices.
“In fact, China is still continually expanding its foreign openness, continually loosening market entry requirements, and making the protection of intellectual property rights a greater priority.
“According to a World Bank report, China has risen 18 places over the past five years in terms of ease of doing business, while last year China attracted USD$136.3 billion, putting it in second place internationally and again creating a historic high.
“This indicates that China’s business environment isn’t worsening, but becoming better, and China will continue to be a hot spot for foreign investment.”
In terms of concrete measures to improve China as a foreign investment destination, Zhong said that the central government would “hasten the creation of basic laws and legislation for foreign investment…expand market entry, and implement commitments to financial sector overseas opening.”
Zhong also pointed to “telecommunications, health, education, aged care and clean energy” as industries slated for further opening up in the future.
