Expert: China will further open up for foreign investment

World
Europe

06:34

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said last weekend that the country has achieved its goal of stabilizing foreign investment in 2018, and China will continue to improve the business climate and facilitate foreign investment next year.

Cross-border direct investment on a global scale has been on a steady decline in 2018. Li Yong, a senior fellow at the China Association of International Trade pointed out total foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped in the first half of 2018 by 41 percent due to uncertainties looming over trade tension.

"A lot of investment decisions have been delayed, people cannot make sure how it is going to be," Li said, "That is [the] result of escalating trade tension, it impacts people's expectations and the supply chain."

Although the data in November showed a downward trend, China's FDI maintained steady growth in 2018. Data from the United Nations shows that China leads the world in attracting foreign investment. Li cited it is the first time that China beat the U.S. as world's top destination for FDI. "It is also a demonstration that the [number of] foreign business companies coming to China have increased."

A draft law on foreign investment has been submitted to a bimonthly session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, December 23, 2018. /VCG Photo

Data from the MOFCOM shows that China attracted more than 120 billion dollars' worth of overseas investment in the first 11 months of this year, up 1.1 percent year-on-year. The number of foreign-invested companies grew by 78 percent from a year ago to over 54,000.

Fair competition is a concern of a huge number of foreign companies coming to China. Li said the restrictions in the Chinese market gives companies a false impression that it is hard to operate businesses in China.

"Foreign companies used to have preferential treatment in the past. After China joined (the) World Trade Organization, it has been limited. In fact, the Chinese business environment has improved, and foreign companies still have preferential treatment at the local level," he added.

Over the past few decades, China has witnessed many business miracles. Li also cited that next year will be another major year for China's opening-up and reform. The ministry said that China will step up efforts in 2019 to further ease market access for overseas investors and promised to treat them the same as their Chinese counterparts.