New investment rules for all four China FTZs to use unified negative list

BEIJING – The State-owned China Daily newspaper says China has cut the number of restrictions on foreign investment for the new pilot free trade zones in Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian - and also for the zone in Shanghai.

“Assistant Commerce Minister, Wang Shouwen, said all such zones will implement a unified and friendlier business environment for foreign investment,” China Daily said. “To increase transparency, the Central Government has made public a ‘negative list’ of foreign investment applicable to the four zones.

“For the Shanghai zone, the number of restricted items on the list has been cut to 122 from 139 last year. A master plan has been unveiled for the zones in Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian and the development plan for the Shanghai zone has been upgraded to create a wider platform for economic reform and opening-up.” www.webershandwick.cn