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recently, favorable signals for attracting foreign investment have been released intensively. the general office of the cpc central committee and the general office of the state council recently issued the "opinions on improving the market access system", which is the first policy document issued at the central level specifically on improving the construction of the market access system. it makes systematic arrangements for strengthening the coordination and linkage of domestic and foreign investment access policies, which has attracted widespread attention from foreign-funded enterprises.

in addition, the release of the "special administrative measures for foreign investment access (negative list)" has also been put on the agenda. on august 19, the state council executive meeting reviewed and approved a series of important documents including the "special administrative measures for foreign investment access (negative list) (2024 edition)".

what expectations do foreign-invested enterprises have for the implementation of these policies? how should we better protect the national treatment of foreign-invested enterprises and create a first-class business environment so that foreign investors can not only "come in" but also "develop well"?

further enhancement

foreign investors' confidence in china

"this is a very positive signal. for foreign-invested enterprises, china's door to opening up is opening wider and wider, and the conditions for access are being relaxed. in the 14 years since we entered the chinese market, we have clearly felt that china's business environment is getting better and better!" chang xinjie, vice president of public affairs for asia at the norwegian tomra group, was deeply touched when he was interviewed by the international business daily. "especially this year's proposal to completely cancel restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector, promote the opening up of telecommunications, education, medical and other service sectors, and the recently issued opinions on improving the market access system, which emphasizes that domestic and foreign-invested enterprises are treated equally, have given foreign-invested enterprises, including the tomra group, more confidence in developing in china."

china's door of opening is opening wider and wider, allowing more foreign-funded enterprises to embrace new opportunities in the huge chinese market.

in the view of chen chao, vice president and general manager of asia pacific region of secco industrial group, the release of the opinions is another major measure for china to promote high-level opening up. at present, china is accelerating the development of new quality productivity and promoting high-quality development. the trend of utilizing foreign capital has also gradually changed from quantitative growth to qualitative improvement.

"the opinions propose strengthening the coordination and linkage of domestic and foreign investment access policies, which means that domestic and foreign companies will compete on the same level, and the competition is about which company has stronger innovation capabilities and whose products are more favored by the market." chen chao said that looking forward to the future, secco is full of confidence in the chinese market. the next step is to continue to accelerate the localization of core products, increase new product development efforts, launch cnas national laboratory certification projects and digital factory construction, further enhance competitiveness in the chinese and asia-pacific markets, and make efforts in both the pre-sales and after-sales markets.

no matter how complicated the external environment is, facing the new attraction of the chinese market, foreign-funded enterprises cannot ignore the in-depth development of digitalization, intelligence and greening in china. yu feng, president of honeywell china, told reporters: "we must study china's policies well, including carefully studying the report of the 20th national congress of the communist party of china and the communique of the third plenary session of the 20th central committee, word by word, and find development opportunities for the next five or even ten years between the lines, and then combine the company's own advanced technology and management capabilities to seize the opportunity and market."

create a more efficient and convenient access environment

after three years, the "special management measures for foreign investment access (negative list)" was updated again, from the 2021 version to the 2024 version.

the "two lists" of foreign investment access and market access have attracted much attention from all parties. "previously, the two lists have been closely connected in the adjustment." the relevant person in charge of the ministry of commerce introduced at a press conference held by the state council information office recently that in the implementation, without reducing the access opportunities of existing business entities, the principle of national treatment will be adhered to, and various barriers that hinder fair access will be continuously cleared and removed to ensure that all types of business entities have equal access rights in accordance with the law. the requirements of the opinions are to clarify and solidify the existing mature practices, and are also an important institutional achievement to strengthen the connection between the "two lists".

foreign-invested enterprises also have their own expectations for market access. yu feng said: "for foreign-invested enterprises like honeywell, which have been rooted in china for nearly 90 years, most of the products sold in china have long been developed, purchased and manufactured in china. in addition, enterprises have a lot of advanced management experience and hope to participate more in the construction of national and local industry standards to better enable the transformation and upgrading of china's industries."

it is reported that the ministry of commerce will guide relevant regions to comprehensively promote the implementation of the "two lists", continuously optimize services for foreign-invested enterprises, and create a more efficient and convenient access environment for all types of enterprises.

liu xiangdong, deputy director of the economic research department of the china center for international economic exchanges, told the international business daily that the free trade pilot zones play the role of pilot windows in the process of promoting opening up to the outside world. through stress testing and experience accumulation, they can effectively reduce the risks brought about by opening up and the costs of trial and error in reform, and gradually replicate and promote them on a larger scale across the country.

wan zhe, a researcher at the belt and road institute of beijing normal university, told the international business daily that china is comprehensively promoting chinese-style modernization with high-quality development. from expanding market access and accelerating the opening up of modern service industries, to providing high-quality services to foreign investment on an equal footing, and then to increasing protection of intellectual property rights and the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investment, it will further enhance its attractiveness to foreign investment.

■ our reporter bai shujie