The State Council recently issued the Opinions on Further Optimizing the Foreign Investment Environment and Increasing Efforts to Attract Foreign Investment (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), which requires a better overall balance between domestic and international situations, creating a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized first-class business environment, giving full play to the advantages of China’s ultra-large market, and attracting and utilizing foreign investment with greater efforts and more effectively. On August 14, The State Council Information Office held a regular briefing on the policies of The State Council to introduce relevant information on continuing to deepen reform and opening up and earnestly optimizing the business environment.

Manufacturing is a key area of foreign investment, in promoting the use of foreign investment in China’s manufacturing industry, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology planning Department deputy director Yao Jun said at the meeting, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology resolutely implement the Party Central Committee, The State Council decision-making deployment, and effectively do a good job in the field of foreign investment in the manufacturing industry. On the one hand, we will continue to relax the access for foreign investment in the manufacturing industry. At present, China’s general manufacturing sector has been fully opened up, the negative list of manufacturing items in the pilot free trade zone has been completely eliminated, and the automotive industry has removed all restrictions on foreign investment access since 2022. On the other hand, continuously optimize the service guarantee. Through the establishment of “through train” and “green channel” and other mechanisms, we will continuously increase the service guarantee for key foreign-funded enterprises and projects in the manufacturing industry, help enterprises to solve problems and difficulties, and ensure that key foreign-funded projects come in, come down, and operate well.

“Foreign enterprises’ confidence in the Chinese market has not decreased, and China’s manufacturing industry still has a strong attraction for all kinds of global resource factors.” In the first half of this year, against the backdrop of slowing world economic recovery and sluggish global transnational investment, the actual utilization of foreign capital in China’s manufacturing industry was basically unchanged from the same period last year, and the actual utilization of foreign capital in high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 28.8% year-on-year. This shows that foreign enterprises have sufficient confidence to invest in China, and the vast space of China’s manufacturing industry will also bring continuous profit space for foreign enterprises.” Yao Jun said.

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Yao Jun introduced that in the next step, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will earnestly implement the tasks in the “Opinions” and focus on three aspects of work: First, we will continue to strengthen the construction of a market-oriented, law-based, and world-class business environment, implement the principle of “consistency between domestic and foreign investment” in the acquisition of factors of production, qualification licensing, government procurement, and standard-setting, and equally protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign enterprises and entrepreneurs of all types of ownership in accordance with the law. The second is to further improve the service guarantee mechanism for key foreign-funded projects in the manufacturing industry, actively coordinate to solve the difficulties in the landing and operation of key foreign-funded enterprises and projects, and enhance the confidence of foreign investors in China. Third, conscientiously implement the Catalogue of Industries to Encourage Foreign Investment (2022 Edition), guide foreign investment to invest in advanced manufacturing, energy conservation, environmental protection and other fields, and invest in central and western China and Northeast China, further improve the quality of attracting foreign investment, optimize the distribution of foreign investment, and do a good job in utilizing foreign investment in the manufacturing industry.

It is worth mentioning that in guiding and supporting foreign-funded enterprises to participate in the gradient transfer of domestic industries, the newly issued “Opinions” clearly support the gradient transfer of foreign-invested enterprises. In this regard, Yao Jun said that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will deeply implement the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and The State Council, earnestly implement the requirements of the “Opinions”, in accordance with the “Fourteenth Five-Year” series planning of industry and information technology and the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the orderly transfer of manufacturing industry”, promote the formation of complementary advantages and high-quality development of regional industrial layout, in order to build a modern industrial system, Provide strong support for building a new dual-cycle development pattern:

First, strengthen policy guidance, in accordance with the “Manufacturing Industry Transfer Development Guidance Catalog (2022)”, focus on the strong chain of the industrial chain to supplement the chain, guide all localities to base on the industrial base, give play to their characteristics and advantages, orderly undertake and dislocation development, and continue to strengthen, improve and expand the characteristic advantage industries. Second, deepen regional cooperation, encourage local governments to establish and improve regional docking cooperation mechanisms, give full play to the roles of enterprises, parks, associations, research institutes, universities and other parties, deepen and expand the “chain” transfer and other transfer cooperation models, and achieve the same frequency resonance and positive interaction between East and West. The third is to build a docking platform, strengthen the docking of supply and demand, carefully handle a series of docking activities, build high-level parks and other undertaking carriers, create a first-class business environment, provide accurate and efficient services, and promote the contracted projects to form real productivity as soon as possible. Fourth, we should strengthen international cooperation, pay equal attention to “bringing in” and “going global”, promote high-level opening up, improve the service system for foreign investment, give play to the role of platforms such as overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, and strengthen industrial cooperation with countries jointly building the “Belt and Road” to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.