China has approved the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" and has applied to join the "Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement." China will continue to reduce the negative list of foreign investment access in the implementation and negotiation process, and promote the all-round opening of agriculture and manufacturing. Intensify the opening up of the service industry, and accord equal treatment to domestic and foreign enterprises in accordance with the law... On November 11, President Xi Jinping’s keynote speech at the APEC Business Leaders’ Summit once again reiterated China’s unswerving advancement of reform and opening up to serve the Asia-Pacific economy. Develop the determination to provide assistance.

In the past few days, from the Rome Summit of the Group of Twenty Leaders to the Fourth China International Import Expo, to the APEC Business Leaders Summit, the world has heard strong voices from China for expanding high-level openness.

　　The "World Investment Report 2021" released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development shows that due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, global foreign direct investment will fall by 35% in 2020, and it may bottom out in 2021, but it will still be about 25% lower than in 2019.

And if you turn your attention to the Chinese market, it is a warm landscape.

In the first three quarters of this year, the actual use of foreign capital across the country increased by 19.6% year-on-year, achieving double-digit growth for the first time in the past 10 years.

There were 36,000 newly established foreign-invested enterprises nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 36.5%.

According to a report by Bloomberg News on November 8th, despite the impact of the epidemic on global trade and supply chains, 97% of multinational companies surveyed plan to continue to expand investment in China because China has a huge market, expectations of continued economic growth, and a well-developed supply. chain.

　　Global investment is sluggish, why is the Chinese market so powerful?

　　On the one hand, China continues to expand the scope of foreign investment access, so that foreign businessmen invest in China with "reassurance."

During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, special management measures for foreign investment access throughout the country and pilot free trade zones have been revised for 4 consecutive years.

All foreign investment access restrictions have been reduced to 33, and foreign investment access restrictions in the Pilot Free Trade Zone have been reduced to 30.

In 2020, the Hainan Free Trade Port’s negative list of foreign investment access was released for the first time, with 27 access restrictions.

With the gradual reduction of the negative list, China's manufacturing industry has basically opened up, and the service industries such as finance, transportation, trade and logistics, and professional services have been liberalized in an orderly manner.

　　On the other hand, China is striving to optimize the investment environment and continue to create a market-oriented, legalized, and international business environment.

Establish and improve the rapid coordinated protection of intellectual property rights and joint credit disciplinary mechanisms, continue to promote the arbitration and mediation of intellectual property disputes, and increase the protection of intellectual property rights.

Improve the foreign trade and foreign investment coordination mechanism, set up special classes for key foreign investment projects, improve the foreign investment service system, and strengthen the service guarantee for foreign-invested enterprises and key foreign-invested projects.

Accelerate the construction of pilot free trade zones, increasing the number from 4 to 21, and create a new open highland with a higher level of openness, a better business environment, and a stronger radiation effect.

At the same time, multi-bilateral and regional economic and trade relations have continued to deepen. China-EU investment agreement negotiations have been completed as scheduled, 8 new free trade agreements have been signed and upgraded, a total of 19 free trade agreements have been signed with 26 countries and regions, and regional comprehensive economic partnership agreements have been successfully signed , To create a good external environment for the use of foreign capital.

　　During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China will accelerate the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international double cycles mutually promoting each other, and the use of foreign capital will also enter a new stage of development.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that China will have two major highlights in the use of foreign capital.

First, not only pay attention to the scale of investment promotion, but also pay more attention to the improvement of the business environment.

This means that, instead of simply "inviting foreign companies," we must actually promote better and faster development of foreign capital in the Chinese market to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. Second, we must focus on improving the quality and level of foreign capital utilization.

While the scale of attracting investment is growing steadily, attracting more high-tech industries, multinational corporate headquarters and R&D centers, large projects, etc., to give full play to the strengths and weaknesses of foreign capital in making up for shortcomings, to promote technological and management innovation, and to meet the needs of the domestic diversified market And other aspects.

The "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for Utilizing Foreign Investment Development" issued by the Ministry of Commerce in October clearly stated that the proportion of foreign investment in high-tech industries should rise from 29.6% in 2020 to 30% in 2025.

　　At present, the epidemic is still spreading globally, and the recovery of the world economy is difficult and tortuous.

China has become a "stabilizer" and "safe haven" for multinational investment by virtue of its complete industrial system, complete infrastructure, and super-large-scale market advantages.

As the door to the outside world opens wider and the business environment continues to optimize, China will undoubtedly become a hot spot for foreign investment in the long term.

(Luan Yushi)