外商投资准入负面清单(wàishāng tóuzī zhǔnrù fùmiàn qīngdān):Foreign investment negative list

The State Council, China's Cabinet, released a document on Wednesday, further expanding the sectors accessible to foreign investment.

The document followed up the decision of the State Council executive meeting, held on July 28, which decided to further open up industries such as new energy vehicle manufacturing, ship design, aircraft maintenance, gas stations and insurance to foreign investment.

According to the latest document, the country will be relaxing the negative list for foreign investment, which is applied in the country's 11 pilot free-trade zones.

The negative list management of foreign investment refers to a management system in which the government lists the economic areas closed to foreign investment.

This move to reduce the sectors on the list aims to attract more foreign investment.

Officials of the Ministry of Commerce said no risks had emerged since the foreign investment negative list management system was introduced in China's free trade zones three years ago, which indicates the negative list can be rolled out nationwide.

The foreign investment negative list is expected to be promoted nationwide as soon as possible, in order to enhance the openness and transparency of China's business environment.