According to the new regulation announced by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, National Health Commission and National Health Products Administration, foreign investors will be allowed to operate hospitals in the cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nancing, Sucou, Fucou, Guangcou, Xinjiang and Hainan Province.
Foreign investors will also be able to operate in the biotechnology sector in the cities of Beijing and Shanghai, as well as in the provinces of Guangdong and Hainan, conduct research and application in human stem cell and gene diagnostic technologies, and apply for nationally valid mass production and marketing licenses.
All restrictions on the manufacturing sector have been lifted
Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission have published an updated version of the “negative list” of sectors where foreign capital investment is prohibited.
In the new version of the negative list, which was last updated in 2021, restrictions on foreign investment in all sectors of manufacturing were removed.
In the new list, the number of sectors subject to restrictions has been reduced from 31 to 29.
Outside of the manufacturing sector, foreign investment restrictions were lifted in value-added telecommunications services such as cloud computing, internet data centers, content transmission networks, and internet service providers in the free trade pilot zones in Beijing, Shanghai, Xinjiang, and Hainan.
Foreign investment decline continues
The government’s move to open up sectors such as healthcare, biotechnology and data services, as well as manufacturing, is seen as a move to regain investor confidence in the face of the decline in foreign direct investments.
In the Chinese economy, where fragility continues after Covid-19, foreign investments are losing momentum due to the US’s investment restrictions in some sectors and the European countries’ approach to eliminating risks related to economic dependence.
The decline in foreign direct investment to China in 2023 continued in the first seven months of 2024. According to data from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, foreign investment amounted to 539.5 billion yuan ($76.1 billion) in the January-July 2024 period. Investments decreased by 30 percent in the first seven months compared to the same period last year.
Source: www.dunya.com
