China to accelerate legislation of new foreign investment law

BEIJING — China will accelerate legislation of its new foreign investment law amid efforts to boost investment liberalization, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Oct 25.

"China will keep its policies stable, fair, transparent and predictable as it better protects the legitimate rights and interests of foreign-invested enterprises," MOC spokesman Gao Feng told a news conference.

The new law is expected to combine the country's three foreign investment laws to promote and protect foreign investment. It will stick to policies of high-standard liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, and significantly ease market access for foreign companies.

"Over the 40-year course of reform and opening-up, China has kept enhancing the protection of and improving services for foreign investors," Gao said.

Commenting on the upbeat growth of newly-established foreign companies and use of foreign investment in the first three quarters, Gao said global investors had shown strong confidence in China's widening opening-up.

China was the largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first half of 2018, while global FDI in the same period slumped 41 percent year on year to a 10-year low, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Gao said the UNCTAD data further corroborated foreign investor's confidence in the country's investment environment and prospects.