CHINA has taken concrete steps to open up its market since the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in November 2018, a major measure in taking the initiative to open its market to the world.

China seeks to expand foreign access to its financial sector by abolishing restrictions and adding investment options.

To facilitate foreign investment in the interbank bond market, China has scraped investment quota limits for Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) and Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) and now allows the non-transacting transfer of bonds under the same overseas entity QFII/RQFII and direct entry channels as well as direct transfer between capital accounts.

For the stock market, overseas investors are encouraged to invest in the NASDAQ-style sci-tech innovation board known as the STAR market. The Shanghai-London Stock Connect program opened for trading in June as another channel for foreign capital inflow.

Foreign ownership limits on futures companies, fund management firms and brokerages will also be lifted next year.

Market access is eased for foreign firms by shortening the negative list of sectors and businesses that are off-limits for foreign investors to 40 items from 48. Upstream exploration of China’s oil and natural gas resources by foreign companies, as well as ownership restrictions in entertainment and telecommunications services, were among the items taken off the list this year.

Efforts to increase imports are evident in China’s move to set up six new pilot Free Trade Zones (FTZs) located in the six provincial-level regions of Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Hebei, Yunnan and Heilongjiang, bringing the total number of the country’s pilot FTZs to 18.

China’s imports have been growing at an average rate of 8.25 percent annually from 2016 to 2018 and is expected to top US$2 trillion this year, according to official data.

To render a better business environment and provide overseas investors with stronger protection, China approved a landmark foreign investment law and introduced a new regulation on optimizing the business environment, both set to take effect on Jan. 1 next year.

The two legal documents are expected to make foreign investment policies more transparent, grant an equal playing field for foreign-invested enterprises in market competition and strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights.

According to the latest World Bank report, China’s ease-of-doing-business ranking rose to 31 this year from 46 last year, and it is among the 10 economies that improved the most in ease of doing business after implementing regulatory reforms.

(Xinhua)