Chinanews.com, Beijing, November 2nd (Zhongxin Finance and Economics reporter Song Yusheng) On November 1st, the National Development and Reform Commission and the high-level roundtable of American multinational companies in China with the theme of "focusing on the 20 major conferences and seeking new development" were held in Beijing. held.
The roundtable was hosted by the International Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, China News Service, and hosted by China News Network. Senior representatives from the American Chamber of Commerce in China, the US-China Business Council and more than 60 US companies in China attended the meeting.
At the meeting, in response to many topics of concern to foreign-funded enterprises, the relevant persons in charge of the Department of Foreign Investment, the Department of Environment and Investment, the Department of International Affairs and the International Cooperation Center of the National Development and Reform Commission answered questions from the US-funded enterprises on the spot.
On November 1, the National Development and Reform Commission and the high-level roundtable of American multinational companies in China, with the theme of "focusing on the 20th National Congress to seek new development", were held in Beijing.
Photo by China News Service reporter Li Jun
Excerpts from the Q&A are as follows:
Enterprise representative: If you can summarize it in one or two sentences, how should overseas enterprises view the 20th CPC National Congress?
A: First, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have sufficient confidence and ability to realize China's modernization; second, in this process, we welcome all entrepreneurs who want to participate in China's modernization process.
Enterprise representative: Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission of China and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the "Catalogue of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment (2022 Edition)". How should foreign-funded enterprises view the opportunities brought by this document?
A: Compared with the previous version of the catalog, the "Catalogue of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment (2022 Edition)" has three main changes.
1. Expand the scope of encouraging foreign investment.
The total number of entries in the new version of the catalog is 1,474, a net increase of 239 compared with the previous version, an increase of 19.4%, and the number of entries added is the largest in recent years.
More importantly, it fully shows that China's attitude to encourage foreign investment is very clear, and China's determination to expand opening up is firm.
2. Intensify the policy of attracting investment in key industries.
The revision of the catalog has strengthened the policies to encourage foreign investment in advanced manufacturing, modern service industry, high-tech, energy conservation and environmental protection and other industries, promoted the optimization of the industrial structure of foreign investment, and further improved the quality of foreign investment utilization. Many foreign-funded enterprises are in these fields With advantages, the introduction of the new version of the catalog also provides more important opportunities for these enterprises to achieve better development.
3. Intensify the policy of attracting investment in the central, western and northeastern regions.
This revision of the catalogue has formulated more targeted incentive policies based on the comparative advantages of these provinces in the central, western and northeastern regions, and has increased support for basic manufacturing and people's livelihood consumption, which is conducive to foreign-funded enterprises using local labor and characteristic resources. Advantages to achieve better development.
In the next step, we will work with relevant departments and localities to implement the new version of the catalog to ensure that qualified foreign-invested projects can fully enjoy various preferential policies.
Enterprise representative: Do you have any suggestions on supporting and encouraging foreign-funded enterprises to actively participate in carbon neutralization?
A: China's "dual carbon" goal is a very broad and profound economic and social systemic change, and there are huge market opportunities in this process.
We welcome and support foreign-funded enterprises to actively participate in China's competition to achieve the "dual-carbon" goal, and share the huge opportunities brought about by the comprehensive green and low-carbon transformation of China's economic and social development.
There are three specific aspects:
First, exchanges and cooperation on low-carbon, zero-carbon and negative-carbon technologies.
Achieving peak carbon neutrality is inseparable from technology. Without technology, carbon neutrality is absolutely impossible.
In particular, it is necessary to focus on key areas such as renewable energy development, nuclear energy, energy conservation, hydrogen energy, energy storage, carbon dioxide utilization and storage, low-carbon process innovation and digital transformation in the industrial field, strengthen technical exchanges and mutual learning, and jointly contribute to the global green and low-carbon Development provides impetus.
Second, carry out green and low-carbon trade and investment cooperation.
We support foreign-funded enterprises to increase investment in China in the fields of new energy, energy conservation and environmental protection, ecological environment, and green services, and expand the import and export scale of energy conservation and environmental protection products and services. Relevant enterprises will also enjoy energy conservation, water conservation, environmental protection, and tax incentives. Policy and other existing policies, we treat foreign-funded enterprises equally.
As long as it is an enterprise in China, foreign-funded enterprises can enjoy preferential tax policies and policies related to domestic enterprises.
Third, carry out third-party market cooperation.
China promises to vigorously support the green and low-carbon development of energy in developing countries. Chinese and foreign companies have broad space for cooperation and huge potential for cooperation. It is hoped that multinational companies will give full play to their own advantages and work with Chinese companies to develop third-party practices and achieve win-win cooperation.
Enterprise representative: What management ideas does the Chinese government have on carbon emission reduction in the auto industry?
A: There are basically two ways: to improve the efficiency of traditional fuel vehicles, so that fuel vehicles use less oil and less fossil energy; to develop new energy vehicles.
As the world's largest producer and exporter of new energy vehicles, China has made great contributions to reducing global carbon emissions.
According to industry associations, China's new energy vehicle sales are expected to exceed 6 million this year.
With the development of new energy vehicles in China, China's huge market has promoted technological progress.
The stable development of global new energy vehicles is crucial to achieving the goal of global response to the climate crisis.
It is hoped that foreign auto companies in China can contribute to maintaining the stability of the global electric vehicle industry chain and supply chain.
Enterprise representative: What is the positioning of foreign-funded enterprises in the new journey of integration into high-quality development?
A: At present, China has become a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, and the total value of trade in goods ranks first in the world.
We also see the important role foreign capital plays in China's economy.
Foreign-invested enterprises account for less than 3% of the total number of enterprises in the country, creating 2/5 of China's foreign trade, 1/6 of tax revenue and nearly 1/10 of urban employment.
This fully proves that foreign-funded enterprises have indeed played a very important role in China's development.
In the slump in global transnational investment, China has achieved quite good results in introducing foreign capital, especially for some iconic projects, such as Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory and BASF's Guangdong integration project.
China's opening door will not be closed, it will only open wider.
We hope that the US-funded enterprises in China will move forward together with us.
Enterprise representative: How should foreign-funded enterprises face possible challenges in the process of Chinese-style modernization?
A: For foreign-funded enterprises, there may be internal and external challenges.
Among them, the external ones should adapt to various institutional arrangements in the process of Chinese-style modernization; the internal ones should be adjusted from the aspects of the enterprise's business model, organizational structure, and independent innovation.
Enterprise representative: What policy has the National Development and Reform Commission issued to encourage foreign investment in manufacturing and green and low-carbon industries?
A: The "Several Policies and Measures on Focusing on the Manufacturing Industry to Promote the Expansion of Foreign Investment, Stabilize the Stock and Improve the Quality" has created more favorable conditions for foreign investment in the manufacturing industry.
At the same time, the "Catalogue of Industries for Encouraging Foreign Investment (2022 Edition)" has significantly increased the entry of mid-to-high-end manufacturing industries to support the development of foreign-funded enterprises in the manufacturing industry.
Among them, "Several Policies and Measures on Promoting the Expansion, Stabilizing the Stock and Improving the Quality of Foreign Investment Focusing on the Manufacturing Industry" is the key work for promoting foreign investment at present and in the future. In the next step, we will cooperate with various departments and localities to accelerate the implementation of these policies and measures.
Green, low-carbon, energy saving and environmental protection are also one of the important areas to encourage foreign investment.
China is actively and steadily promoting the carbon neutral strategy, and relevant parties have also made policy arrangements to encourage foreign-funded enterprises to develop green technologies, design green products, build green factories, and create green demonstration enterprises.
We support the equal participation of foreign-funded enterprises in the formulation and revision of standards related to green and low-carbon fields.
Enterprise representative: In terms of the implementation of environmental protection and low-carbon products, how to ensure the implementation of relevant policies?
A: According to the deployment of the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Taxation, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and local governments, have set up a special class for major foreign investment projects to develop green channel, and promote the implementation of landmark major foreign-funded projects.
This is a special class for major foreign-funded projects at two levels, one at the national level and the other at the local level.
The special work class at the local level is mainly responsible for the preparation and service of the project, tracking the progress of the project in the whole process, and coordinating and solving problems involving the local level.
The special work class at the national level is to select the iconic major foreign-funded projects from the local major foreign-funded project reserve. Sea use, environmental impact assessment, energy consumption and other issues.
In October this year, we just launched the sixth batch of landmark major foreign investment projects with large scale, advanced technology and strong international influence.
At present, the first six batches of major foreign-funded projects are generally progressing smoothly.
After the coordination of two-level special classes, 18 projects have been fully or partially put into production.
In the next step, we will continue to improve the special work class mechanism at the national and local levels, further improve the support policy for iconic foreign-funded projects, and strengthen the guarantee support of resource elements.
If foreign-funded enterprises intend to invest in large-scale projects, they are welcome to contact the Foreign Investment Department of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Foreign Investment Division of the Local Development and Reform Commission.
Enterprise representative: In the field of opening-up of the financial industry, how to further ensure that foreign-funded banks and Chinese-funded enterprises are treated equally in their daily operations?
A: China's opening to the outside world is an all-round opening.
The most important indicator for evaluating openness is whether it enjoys the same national treatment.
In this regard, especially in the past decade or so, the opening to the outside world has made great progress.
Judging from the "Three Negative Lists" currently implemented across the country, the bank-guarantee industry has all returned to zero on the negative list.
In the next step, in terms of cooperation with Chinese-funded enterprises and industry access, specific regulations and services will be carried out by the industry authorities.
Enterprise representative: Will there be relevant policies and requirements for carbon emissions and carbon calculation of foreign-funded enterprises in China?
A: In the future, a series of relevant policy standards may be introduced at the national level, and a standard system from the country, from the industry, from enterprises to intermediate products will be established.
In the next step, as the work progresses, this problem will be solved.
(Finish)