China to scrap ownership limits in the financial sector in 2020
July 9, 2019 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
China will end ownership limits for foreign investors in its financial sector in 2020, a year earlier than scheduled, Premier Li Keqiang said. China will also further open its manufacturing sector, including the auto industry, while reducing its negative investment list that restricts foreign investment in some areas, Li told the World Economic Forum meeting (“Summer Davos”) in Dalian. “We will achieve the goal of abolishing ownership limits in securities, futures, and life insurance businesses for foreign investors by 2020, a year earlier than the original schedule of 2021,” Li said. China is moving forward the schedule to show the world that it will not stop opening up its financial sector, Li said, adding the government will also reduce restrictions next year on market access for foreign investors in value-added telecoms services and the transport sector.
The country will support foreign investment in advanced manufacturing industries such as electronic information, equipment manufacturing, medicine and new materials, and in the central and western regions, Li said, adding that favorable policies will be unveiled concerning equipment imported for self-use, corporate income tax and land supply. Li also pledged to implement the commitment to give national treatment to foreign-funded institutions in areas of credit information, credit rating and payment. The two-way opening of China’s bond market will also be expanded, he said.
At the end of June, China cut the number of sectors subject to foreign investment restrictions to 40 from 48 in the previous version, published in June last year. “Currently, global economic risks are rising somewhat, international investment and trade growth are slowing, protectionism is rising and unstable and uncertain factors are increasing,” Premier Li Keqiang told the WEF audience. China will not resort to competitive currency devaluation, Li said, and will keep the yuan exchange rate basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level. The country will further lower the overall level of tariffs, strive to remove non-tariff barriers, and actively expand imports of goods and services, the Shanghai Daily reports.
In a separate message to the 2019 World New Energy Vehicle Congress in Boao, Hainan province. President Xi Jinping said that China upholds a development path that is green, low carbon and sustainable, and it hopes to work with the international community to accelerate innovation in new energy vehicle technologies as well as the development of related industries.
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