Emphasis put on attracting international investors

Employees work at the Tesla Gigafactory in Shanghai, Nov. 20, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

China will further open up its vast domestic market to global investors in the next five years as part of ongoing efforts to foster innovation-driven and high-quality development, officials and experts said on Tuesday.

"China will raise the level of opening-up in an all-around manner during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period," said Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission. "We will further advance liberalization and facilitation in trade and investment, continue to promote opening-up based on flows of goods and factors of production, and give greater emphasis to opening-up based on rules and related institutions."

Ning said at a roundtable meeting of the NDRC and US multinational enterprises that China welcomes foreign companies to participate in its market and will strive to create a better business environment.

Citing China's new five-year plan, he said the dual-circulation development paradigm－in which the domestic market is the mainstay and the domestic and foreign markets reinforce each other－does not mean seclusion under the domestic circulation model, but instead emphasizes further opening-up and a bolstering of ties with other nations.

"China will not shut its door to opening-up, but will open wider to the outside world.… China will integrate itself deeper into the world economy, offering huge growth opportunities for other nations," Ning added.

Looking forward, China will continue to shorten the negative lists for foreign investment access, advance orderly opening-up in the services sector, relax market access in the manufacturing sector, and promote the implementation of major foreign investment projects in China, according to Zhang Zhiqing, deputy director-general of the Department of Foreign Capital and Overseas Investment at the NDRC.

More efforts will also be made to further encourage foreign investors' participation in fields including integrated circuit equipment, key raw materials, software and hardware, research and design, modern logistics and information services, Zhang added.

Experts said China's continued opening-up measures are in line with the country's new five-year plan, which will not only boost the country's high-quality development but also inject new impetus to the global economic recovery.

Under the new development paradigm, China is dedicated to opening its economy wider, with a key focus on building an open market, expanding institutional opening-up and boosting innovation cooperation, said Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

"China is willing to build a global community with shared interests, shared responsibility and a shared future. Its continued opening-up measures will not only help create a key competitive edge in international cooperation, but also offer new growth opportunities for global stakeholders," Zhang added.

Cui Weijie, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the country's ongoing opening-up efforts will attract more global enterprises to develop and invest in the nation.