(Economic Observer) What is the significance of China's introduction of foreign investment security review measures?
China News Service, Beijing, December 19 (Reporter Li Xiaoyu) China issued the "Measures for the Security Review of Foreign Investment" on the 19th.
At a time when external risks have significantly increased, this move has released a triple signal.
Signal 1, China will pay more attention to risk prevention and control in opening up.
Prior to the Politburo meeting of the CPC Central Committee, it was proposed that various existing risks should be resolved and incremental risks should be prevented.
The Central Economic Work Conference also specifically emphasized the importance of applying internationally accepted rules to safeguard national security.
The newly introduced measures clearly reflect the precautions for national security risks.
The Measures stipulate that foreign investment in military industry, military industry supporting facilities and other fields related to national defense security, as well as investment in military facilities and military industry facilities surrounding areas; investment in important agricultural products, important energy and resources, major equipment manufacturing, important infrastructure, and important transportation related to national security Services, important cultural products and services, important information technology and Internet products and services, important financial services, key technologies, and other important fields, and obtain actual control of the invested enterprise, must carry out security reviews.
Relevant parties should actively declare investments that fall within the scope of the review, and those who pass the review can implement the investment.
As the person in charge of the Foreign Investment Security Review Working Mechanism Office said, opening to the outside world without security guarantees is unsustainable. Only by tightening the fence to prevent and control security risks can we lay a solid foundation for a new round of opening up. Better implement wider, broader and deeper opening up.
Yao Zhizhong, deputy director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that if the pace and intensity of opening up are not appropriate, and the level of supervision does not match the degree of openness, it may cause macroeconomic instability, even endanger national economic security, and cause catastrophic consequences. , This has profound lessons in some developing countries and emerging economies.
China's move is just a lesson learned from the past.
The second signal is that China's opening up will move to a higher level, and will not stagnate or regress.
According to the new regulations, foreign investment security review will be as simple as possible, and review procedures and time limits will be set in accordance with the necessary and reasonable principles.
At the same time, the safety review is carried out in three stages. According to the risk of the declared project, the review is carried out in a hierarchical and progressive manner. The number of projects entering the second and third stages is reduced, and the review opinions and decisions will be promptly fed back to investors.
The official also made it clear that in the future, during the implementation of the Measures, foreign investment that affects or may affect national security will be accurately reviewed to avoid generalization of security reviews.
This shows that China’s promulgation of this review method is by no means a "departure order" for foreign investment, let alone closing the door of opening, but focusing on effective control of foreign investment that affects or may affect national security, and effectively safeguards national economic security.
When the Central Economic Work Conference set the tone for next year’s macro policy, it was clear that a high-level opening up should be implemented, and reform and opening should be promoted mutually. It also specifically proposed to actively consider joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP).
Wei Jianguo, former vice minister of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Agency that these series of expressions all show that China is determined to expand its high-level opening to the outside world and continues to move forward. The door of opening will only open wider.
Signal three: In the future, China will pay more attention to the use of internationally accepted systems and rules to safeguard rights.
The foreign investment security review is an internationally accepted foreign investment management system.
In recent years, major countries and regions in the world have successively introduced or improved foreign investment security review systems. For example, the United States issued the "Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act", the European Union issued the "Foreign Direct Investment Framework Regulations", Australia issued the "Foreign Investment Reform Act", and the United Kingdom was Formulate the "National Security and Investment Law", etc.
China's current foreign investment security review measures are precisely in line with this trend and are a manifestation of using internationally accepted rules to safeguard its own interests.
Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Agency that conforming to international rules and making good use of relevant rules to protect rights will not only help improve China’s openness, but also force domestic The deepening of reforms will also enable China to be in a more advantageous position in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests.
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