Senior Chinese leaders have repeatedly insisted China is improving market access and the investment environment, improving the protection of intellectual property, and ensuring equal treatment of foreign and domestic companies in China. “China’s door of opening-up will not be closed and will only open even wider!” exclaimed President Xi Jinping at the 2018 Bo’ao Forum.

Despite recent announcements that intended to reduce uncertainty surrounding foreign investment restrictions, doubts remain about China’s commitment to and timeline for meaningful changes to its investment regulatory regime. A January 10 State Council decision to temporarily suspend certain foreign investment restrictions in the free trade zones (FTZs) appears to be only an attempt to clarify that existing liberalizations in the FTZs supercede national restrictions in those areas.

USCBC’s comparative chart of China’s new and past foreign investment catalogues demonstrates that the new Catalogue Guiding Foreign Investment closely aligns with a draft released in late 2016 and opens only a few new sectors to foreign investment.

Some new investment openings appear to be on the horizon in China, according to US-China Business Council (USCBC) sources, but the number and significance remain up in the air.

China officially launched

Chinese leaders reinforced commitments to globalization and opposition to protectionism during a set of two major forums attended by leaders from international industry, government, and academia in March.

A small number of investment openings are expected as part of a revised list of sectors open to foreign investment, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) representatives told a group of US-China Business Council (USCBC) member companies during a recent meeting. The list is expected in the first half of 2017.

Facing ongoing pollution challenges and a push to

US-China Business Council (USCBC) President John Frisbie recently traveled to Beijing and Shanghai for a weeklong visit to encourage senior Chinese officials to move forward with implementing meaningful openings that will send a strong signal to foreign investors that economic reform will continue.