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E-mail China.org.cn, February 20, 2025
Xing Huina:
The floor is now open for questions. Please identify your news outlet before asking your question.
China Daily:
The third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed improving systems for people from overseas in terms of residency, medical care and payment. What steps will you take next to implement the third plenary session's plans to further open up and attract foreign investment? Thank you.
Li Yongjie:
Thank you for your question. I will take this one. As you mentioned earlier, the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed improving the systems for people from overseas in terms of residency, medical care and payment. As you can see, we have taken many measures in this regard in 2024, such as the continuous optimization of the entry-exit policies. At present, we have launched mutual visa-free policies with 25 countries and unilateral visa-free policies with 38 countries. These policies have made it more convenient for foreign investors attending conferences and exhibitions, conducting project negotiations and engaging in technical exchanges in China. In terms of foreign investment work in 2025, we will follow the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to effectively reduce the negative list and improve the business environment while steadily expanding institutional opening up. I will also briefly introduce our plans.
First, we will further promote independent opening up and continuously expand market access. I mentioned earlier that we promoted the removal of restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector in 2024. We also rolled out pilot programs for opening up the service sector, particularly in value-added telecommunications, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals. Meanwhile, we have also introduced a negative list for cross-border service trade in pilot free trade zones (FTZ). The list proactively expands opening up in areas of professional qualifications, finance, professional services and culture. We believe this effort will further facilitate foreign individuals coming to China to provide services. Next, we will steadily promote the opening up of the service sector in accordance with the deployments of the Central Economic Work Conference, especially to expand pilot programs for opening up in areas of telecommunications, health care and education. Furthermore, we will revise the Catalog of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment to make our policies more attractive. This is what I mean by reducing the negative list through independent opening up.
Second, we will continue to make China a favored destination for foreign investment, creating and improving a world-class business environment. We will mainly carry out the work from the following two aspects. In 2024, we held 28 Invest in China roadshows at home and abroad to expand its influence. Next, we will continue holding events as part of the Invest in China series this year, expanding investment channels, enhancing the effectiveness of the exhibitions in attracting foreign investment, and supporting the investment promotion production factors to further burnish the credentials of "Invest in China." On the other hand, we have been deepening regular communication with foreign-invested enterprises. For example, we held 15 roundtable meetings with foreign-invested enterprises and coordinated to resolve over 300 issues faced by these enterprises in 2024. This year, we will further strengthen services and support for foreign-invested enterprises, making good use of the foreign-invested enterprise roundtables and other platforms to coordinate issues faced by foreign-invested enterprises in areas like qualification permits, standard setting and government procurement.
Third, we will proactively align with high-standard international economic and trade rules and build high-level opening up platforms. We will fully leverage the pioneering role of our opening up platforms. For example, we implemented an enhancement strategy last year in pilot FTZs. We have replicated and promoted the results of the first batch of institutional opening up, and introduced policies targeting different FTZs, such as the approved plan to build the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone into a major commodity resource allocation hub. A symposium was held to mark the 40th anniversary of the national economic and technological development zones, which aims to guide these zones to enhance their openness and effectiveness. This year, we will continue to follow the requirements of the Central Economic Work Conference, expanding opening-up and attracting foreign investment by building high-level platforms. We will continue to promote the improvement and efficiency of pilot FTZs, implement the enhancement strategies, and expand the authorization of reform tasks according to local conditions. Pilot experiences of FTZs in Shanghai will be promoted and replicated to support each FTZ in aligning with international high-standard economic and trade rules, and expanding opening up testing. We will also improve policies for national economic and technological development zones and promote the construction of comprehensive pilot demonstrations for the expansion of China's service industry. In summary, through these opening up platforms, the level of institutional opening up will be further enhanced, and more foreign investment will be attracted. Thank you.
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