, Columnist
China’s Foreign Investment Door Opens, But Only Barely
Fancy taking on a state-owned oligopoly? Didn’t think so.
Time to tone down the negative list fan-dance.
Photographer: iStockphoto/Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
When is a loosening of foreign investment rules not really a loosening of foreign investment rules? When China’s doing it in the face of a brewing trade war.
The country’s latest so-called “negative list” issued last week, which comprises a group of industries where foreign businesses are either prohibited from investing or restricted to joint ventures with a degree of Chinese control, boasts an eye-catching headline number: The number2 of sectors is down to 48, from 63 last year and 120 back in 2011.