China welcomes merger and acquisition by foreign investors

China welcomes foreign investors to invest in the form of merger and acquisition; the domestic and foreign environment is generally good for China to further develop its foreign trade in the second half of this year; China will take measures to turn it from a large trade country to a strong trade country.

These were the key points announced by the Ministry of Commerce in a regular media briefing on August 3 in Beijing.

Projects related to the Belt and Road Initiative made a great contribution to China's foreign trade in the first half of this year, ministry officials reported.

From January to June, the China-Africa trade volume hit $85.3 billion, up 19 percent year-on-year; Chinese enterprises' non-financial direct investment flow into Africa was $1.6 billion, up 22 percent year-on-year. Ethiopia, Zambia, Kenya and Djibouti received more than $100 million investment each.

Transport-related equipment exports to Africa have been increasing fast. The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, which uses the Chinese standards, technology, equipment and management model, went into service in May.

China's foreign trade in the first half of this year reached 13.14 trillion yuan ($1.96 trillion), up 19.6 percent year-on-year, ending a two-year decline. Cross-border e-commerce and marketing purchase are new growth points.

The total foreign trade of the 13 cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in the first half of this year exceeded 100 billion yuan, more than double that of the same period last year.

Gao Feng, ministry spokesman, said China will improve its policy system to adapt to new forms of foreign trade to create a more suitable environment for their development.

American company investment in merger and acquisition in China in the first half of this year increased 2.3 percent year-on-year. It is only a bit lower than that of the first half of 2015 and higher than other recent years, the ministry said refuting the claim that such investment had dropped markedly from January to June.

Gao Feng said: "The Chinese government always welcomes foreign investors to invest in China through the form of merger and acquisition."

China issued the 2017 guideline catalog of industries open for foreign investment on June 28. It replaces the former approval system for m&a involving foreign enterprises with a more convenient record management system.

Long Guoqiang, vice head of the State Council Development Research Center, pointed out that some foreign enterprises have yet to thoroughly understand the progress China has made in its opening-up and foreign capital policies. A large number of multinational enterprises will see China as one of the most important investment destinations in the future, he predicted. China's position as the most important host, as well as source in cross-border investments will not change.