China is opening up to the world by encouraging foreign companies to invest for the first time in sectors such as education, services and fields like renewable energies.
Key sectors will include high-tech, clean energy, aerospace, aviation, new materials, high-end manufacturing and advanced logistics etc. The education sector is also going to benefit with a new policy being put in place with some changes made in vocational education and training guidelines. The previous guidelines published in 2007 are replaced with the new guidelines for foreign direct investment (FDI).
Wang Zhile, director of the Research Center on Transnational Corporations under the Ministry of Commerce says that the new version for foreign investment is very open to the outside world and highlights China’s commitment with high-tech manufacturing and modern service sectors. It is also interested to know that the new version is formulated with regards western companies as some of the western companies had criticized the guidelines.
Gas, oil, heating, drainage, water supply, are other projects that are now widely opened to foreign investment.
China will encourage foreign investment in oil and gas exploration and development, as well as in ethylene projects. Its capacity would be no less than 1 million tons per year. However, the Chinese government would restrict foreign investment in petrochemical projects and crude distillation units with capacity lower than 10 million tons per year.
The foreign investors are not allowed to invest in some specific fields like metals, marine resources and some other agricultural production. Huo Jianguo, director of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told China daily that these restrictions are very important on the sake of protecting its industries and natural resources. He emphasized that new advancement in foreign investment sector is very crucial as China is allowing several strategically important and emerging industries to get foreign investment in the future.
From January to February, China’s Foreign Direct Investment is grew by 27 percent year on year to $17.8 billion – last year it fell by 2.6 percent.