Foreign investors will be barred from some resource-intensive or
high-polluting sectors and encouraged to invest in high-tech and
environment friendly projects, the country's top economic planner
said Wednesday.
The Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment,
jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission
(NDRC) and the Ministry of Commerce, was published on the NDRC
website and will take effect on December 1.
In manufacturing, foreign businesses are encouraged to invest in
high-tech sectors, and equipment and new material manufacturing; in
services, they are encouraged to invest in outsourcing and
logistics, the NDRC said in a statement on changes to regulations
on foreign investment issued three years ago.
Some traditional manufacturing sectors, in which domestic
enterprises have developed advanced technologies and strong
production capacity, have been removed from the category in which
the government encourages foreign investment.
"China expects to see more foreign investors move to service
sectors because it will reduce the dependence on the manufacturing
sector," Pei Changhong, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, said Wednesday at a forum organized by the China
Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment.
In mining, China will ban foreign players from mining some
"important minerals that cannot be recycled" as well as high-energy
consuming or highly-polluting projects. But foreign investment is
encouraged in projects that require advanced technology.
According to the latest guidelines, the government will no
longer give the green light to all export-oriented foreign direct
investment.
The move is aimed at addressing the challenges of the widening
trade surplus, which hit $185.65 billion in the first three
quarters, and swelling foreign exchange reserves, which reached
US$1.43 trillion by September, the NDRC said.
Pei also said he expects foreign players to pump in more money
in central and western China instead of concentrating in the
coastal provinces and cities, which account for 90 percent of the
country's foreign investment.
The new regulation is in line with policies the country has
adopted for over a year.
The central government is stepping up efforts to promote
environmental protection and save energy through a series of
measures, including shutting down small- and low-efficient steel
mills, stopping processing trade of high-polluting and
energy-intensive products, as well as scrapping or cutting tax
rebates for resource-intensive exports.
(China Daily November 8, 2007)