1. General Secretary Xi Jinping announced major initiatives to expand and open up at the Boao Forum. How to implement these measures? Can you disclose some news?
This year marks the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the Boao Forum announced major initiatives to expand and open up, and demonstrated the new vision and new blueprint for China’s opening up in the new era. It has been highly evaluated and widely concerned at home and abroad.
In order to implement the spirit of the internship of General Secretary Jin Ping, the National Development and Reform Commission is working with relevant departments to study and implement specific measures. By formulating a new negative list of foreign investment, the major measures for opening up to the outside world will be implemented as soon as possible. The new negative list of foreign investment is an important document for China to substantially relax foreign investment access, and will be announced as soon as possible in the first half of this year. The new negative list includes two negative lists that apply to the national and free trade pilot zones, respectively, and the negative list of the free trade pilot zone will be more open than the negative list of the country. In addition to the announced openness measures for the financial, automotive and other industries, the new negative list will also introduce a series of open measures in the market, such as energy, resources, infrastructure, transportation, trade circulation, professional services and other areas of high concern. In addition to the announcement of the 2018 opening measures, the new negative list will also announce the opening measures for the next few years, which will give the relevant industries a certain transition period and greatly enhance the predictability of openness.
At present, China's economy has shifted from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage, and we urgently need to make breakthroughs in major open issues. In these years, the market supervision mechanism has been continuously improved, laws and regulations have become more sound, and the system foundation has been laid for high-level opening. We believe that through this revision of the negative list of foreign investment, the new round of opening will effectively promote deep-level reform, high-quality development, promote industrial competition and optimal allocation of resources, stimulate greater market vitality, and promote the formation of a comprehensive new opening pattern.
Second, all sectors are concerned about the openness of manufacturing industries such as automobiles. What specific considerations and arrangements are there in the formulation of a new negative list of foreign investment?
General Secretary Xi Jinping announced at the Boao Forum a major move to expand China's manufacturing industry. The opening up of manufacturing industry is the earliest open field in China and the most competitive field in the market. The practice of reform and opening up for 40 years proves that on the basis of certain development, only openness can fully stimulate the vitality of the market. Only openness can force enterprise innovation. Only openness can gather domestic and foreign resources.
At present, China's manufacturing industry has been basically open, and the direction of expanding the opening up is very clear, that is, to achieve full openness. The new negative list of foreign investment will focus on manufacturing openness. For example, the automobile industry will implement a transitional opening period for sub-types. In 2018, the ratio of foreign-funded shares of special-purpose vehicles and new energy vehicles will be abolished; in 2020, the restrictions on foreign-funded shares of commercial vehicles will be abolished; in 2022, the ratio of foreign-invested shares of passenger vehicles will be cancelled, and joint ventures will be cancelled. There are no more than two restrictions for enterprises. Through the five-year transition period, the automotive industry will all be lifted. In another example, the shipbuilding industry will cancel the restrictions on foreign shares in 2018, including design, manufacturing and repair. For another example, the aircraft manufacturing industry will cancel foreign-investment ratio restrictions in 2018, including trunk aircraft, regional aircraft, general aircraft, helicopters, drones, and aerostats.
Manufacturing is the main field of global industrial division of labor. Whether it is traditional manufacturing or high-tech manufacturing, we must maximize the global value chain in an open environment. China's full openness to manufacturing is a clear indication of our opposition to trade and investment protectionism and a clear-cut support for the extensive and in-depth development of economic globalization. We also hope that through the full opening of the manufacturing industry, Chinese and foreign enterprises will be supported to achieve common development in a level playing field, and Chinese and foreign enterprises will be encouraged to carry out more extensive and more capital, technology, management and talent exchanges and cooperation.
