Wang Chunzheng, vice-minister of the State Development Planning Commission, disclosed recently while introducing the policy for western region development to the Hong Kong Western Region Visiting Delegation, that the central government will enlarge the use of direct foreign investment in the service trade sector of China's western region and allow foreign banks to deal in Renminbi (RMB) business in this region.
He said that China lists resource exploitation, tourism development and banking industry as trades in which foreign investment is encouraged. The experiment with foreign investment in banking business, retail enterprises and foreign trade enterprises is expanded to centrally administered municipality, capital cities of provinces and of autonomous regions in China's west, where foreign banks may deal in RMB business, foreign investors can engage in telecom, insurance, tourism, set up Sino-foreign joint accountant offices, law offices, and engineering designing companies, railway and highway freight enterprises, municipal public enterprises, etc.
He also noted that China would relax control over foreign investors' share-holding ratio and provide them with more preferential taxation policies.
(People's Daily 05/29/2001)
