‍Next year, China will continue to accelerate opening-up of its domestic market, while further stepping onto the global stage.

Policy shifts in the financial sector are reportedly a major game changer. China’s Ministry of Finance announced this November that it will widen access for foreign investors to financial markets at home. 

Vice-Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said last month that the regulators would allow foreign entities to own more than 51 percent of stake in China’s securities, futures and fund management companies. For the banking sector, share limits on foreign entities will also be altered next year, and finally lifted five years from now. 

Hong Hao, Chief China Strategist at BOCOM International, believes that China is going in the right direction by opening up financial markets – one of the last territories the Chinese have to themselves.

“For the past 20 years we had a very successful WTO entry, with this entry, we basically transformed into a global powerhouse in terms of manufacturing,” Hong said, “so now with us ready to open the financial industry, you will introduce foreign capitals coming in firstly, then increase the level of competition, probably lower funding cost for Chinese companies, and in the end benefit the Chinese economy as well.”

Many experts also point out that adjusting share-holding cap is only part of the puzzle. The financial regulators, legislation and human resource management should also make changes to meet international standards.

Scott Galit, CEO of cross border payment service provider Payoneer, said the Chinese leadership’s decision to push forward openness and innovation, will encourage the rest of the world to come in to China and accelerate innovation and cooperation.

Meanwhile, China is also working on widening its own access to the global market by leading multi-national organizations or strategies. 

The Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on Tuesday welcomed four new members – Belarus, Ecuador, The Cook Islands and Vanuatu. In two years, the club has expanded from 57 to 84 member nations.

Gregory Liu, the Principal Investment Officer at AIIB, said those new members’ joining in is a vote of confidence to the AIIB by international community, and being multi-national really adds to the organization’s value and strength.

The Belt and Road Initiative also served as a trade booster. In 2016, China’s bilateral trade with Belt and Road countries totaled 953.5 billion US dollars, which took up 25.7 percent of country’s 3.65-trillion-US dollar foreign trade overall. From 2014 to 2016, China invested 51 billion US dollars to 49 Belt and Road countries, creating 180,000 local jobs and 1.1 billion US dollars of tax revenues.