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.

China is determined to arrive at a high-standard Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) that will benefit US industry as soon as possible, said Li Chenggang, director-general of China’s Ministry of Commerce’s (MOFCOM) Treaty and Law Department and China’s lead BIT negotiator, at a USCBC luncheon program February 25 in Washington, D.C.