The new Foreign Investment Law has been a hot-button issue at this year's Two Sessions, one of the most important events on China's political calendar.

Director of the office of Economic Law from Legislative Affairs Commission of National People's Congress Standing Committee, Wang Ruihe, believes that the new law, which focuses on greater convenience and better protection for foreign businesses, has reflected China's firm resolution to further carry forward its reform and opening-up.

Compared with the three traditional laws for foreign businesses, namely the Law on Chinese-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, Law on Chinese-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures and Law on Foreign Capital Enterprises, the new law made some improvements and differs a lot in the management mode.

Besides, the main difference between the new law and the previous ones lies in the combination of "pre-establishment national treatment" and the "negative list" systems.

The former refers to the equal treatment given to domestic and foreign investors alike at the stage of investment admission, while the latter refers to the Special Administrative Measures for access to foreign investment in specific fields. China shall grant national treatment to foreign businesses excluded from the negative list.

By introducing such an approach to managing foreign investment, China is likely to be more attractive to foreign investors and its reform and opening-up could also be further advanced. 

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