An important measure for China to promote high-level opening up is to downsize the negative list for foreign investment and lower the market access threshold.

The first list you mentioned is the negative list for foreign investment in pilot free trade zones. In September 2013, MOFCOM, together with the Shanghai Municipal Government and relevant ministries, published China’s first negative list for foreign investment in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in alignment with high-level investment agreements. In the past 10 years, the negative list of foreign investment in the pilot free trade zones has been revised seven times, reducing the number of items from 190 to 27. In the pilot free trade zones, the manufacturing industry is fully open, and the service industry is more liberalized than that of the whole country. Looking ahead, on the basis of fully listening to and sorting out the opinions and suggestions of foreign-invested enterprises and foreign business associations, MOFCOM will work with other competent authorities to evaluate and demonstrate further reasonable reduction of the negative list of foreign investment in the pilot free trade zones, and continue to advance high-level opening up.

Regarding the negative list on cross-border trade in services, in July 2021, MOFCOM published China’s first negative list in the field of cross-border service trade in Hainan Free Trade Port, making it clear that domestic and foreign service providers that are not on the list are treated equally and have equal access to market. This is a sea change in China’s service trade regulation. In order to implement the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, MOFCOM is working with relevant ministries to formulate and introduce the national negative list of cross-border service trade and the pilot free trade zone version to further expand opening up. Thank you.