China set to become largest 5G market by 2025

China is expected to become the world's largest 5G market by 2025, accounting for 430 million 5G connections, or one-third of the global total, according to a report released by Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) and Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI). All three Chinese mobile operators are currently conducting live 5G trials as part of a multi-year plan that includes research and development, and a network deployment strategy with a view to a large scale commercial launch by 2020, according to the report released at the ongoing Mobile World Congress Shanghai. It emphasized that China's pre-commercial and commercial launch footprints will also be among the largest in the world in terms of base stations. China's leading role in 5G is backed by a proactive government intent on delivering rapid structural change, said Mats Granryd, director general of GSMA. "Chinese mobile operators should be encouraged to deliver what they do best in providing secure, reliable, and intelligent connectivity to businesses and enterprises across the country," said Granryd.

China unveils shortened negative list for foreign investment

China on Thursday unveiled a shortened negative list for foreign investment, with the number of items down to 48 from 63 in the previous version.Jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Commerce, the new negative list will become effective on July 28, 2018.The list, with the official name "Special Administrative Measures on Access to Foreign Investment (Negative List) (2018 Version)," will substitute a catalogue for guiding foreign investment revised in 2017.The new list widens market access for foreign investment in primary, secondary as well as tertiary sectors, detailing 22 opening-up measures in fields including finance, transportation, professional services, infrastructure, energy, resources, and agriculture.The number of items subject to special administrative measures on the new negative list was cut from 63 to 48, further reducing the scope of foreign investment approval, the NDRC said.The new list also detailed a timetable for opening-up in the automobile and finance sectors, the commission said.China marks the 40th anniversary of its reform and opening-up policy this year.Making public the new negative list is an important move to implement the central authorities' arrangement for the opening-up strategy, relax market access to a great extent, and push forward high-level opening up, the NDRC said."The new round of opening-up will provide new impetus for attracting more foreign investment, promoting market competition and raising innovation capability," the commission said.It will also push ahead high-quality development and deep-level reforms, make new ground in pursuing opening-up on all fronts, and give strong support to the development of economic globalization.

China becomes world's second-largest source of outward FDI

China rose to the position of the second-largest source of outward foreign direct investment (FDI) for the first time in 2016.FDI outflows from China increased 44 percent year on year to 183 billion U.S. dollars last year, driven by a surge in cross-border mergers and acquisitions by Chinese firms, according to the World Investment Report 2017.The report was jointly released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.The United States remained the largest investor worldwide, while the Netherlands ranked third.In 2016, China's FDI outflows were 36 percent more than the amount of its inflows, according to the report.The country remained the largest investor in the least developed countries, far ahead of France and the United States.Despite a 15-percent decline in FDI inflows to developing Asia, China remained the third-largest recipient of FDI in 2016, behind the United States and Britain, with inflows falling 1 percent year on year to 134 billion dollars.James Zhan, director of UNCTAD's investment and enterprise division, said China's outward investment will stay at a high level as the country pushes forward Belt and Road development and international industrial capacity cooperation.However, the country's outbound investment needs an improvement in quality and may face challenges from protectionism, Zhan cautioned.Globally, FDI flows dropped 2 percent to 1.75 trillion dollars in 2016, according to the report.It predicted a modest recovery in global FDI flows for 2017, expecting them to increase 5 percent to 1.8 trillion dollars.Source: XINHUANET

Shanghai expo to advance sustained growth in trade

Preparatory work is in full swing for the forthcoming China International Import Expo in Shanghai, with organizers getting enthusiastic responses from companies both at home and abroad.According to the organizers, more than 160 Fortune 500 companies' delegates and industry leaders have indicated their willingness to participate in the exhibition. Companies from over 120 countries and regions are expected to attend the exhibition.The organizers will also look to rope in over 150,000 domestic and overseas buyers in the next five months. To date, 98 State-owned enterprises are among the first group of buyers at CIIE. Local governments of other regions have also started to set up their own trading groups.Three forums will be held at CIIE from Nov 5 to 10, attracting more than 800 participating companies. Themed around opening-up, creativity and investment, the forums will discuss ways to further promote free trade and investment, create a more open world economy, discover new growth areas for world trade and advance the sustained growth of world trade.The exhibition organizer has made great offline and online efforts for CIIE. On April 18, CIIE launched an online trading platform which aims to give the six-day event an extended life online throughout the year. With this, companies participating in the exhibition will be able to display their products, seek potential partners, and complete online trading with digital payment systems.In addition, the organizer also held a meeting for 47 buyers and 25 exhibition participants to bridge the supply and demand gap, which will hopefully lead to better transaction results.Shang Yuying, director of the Shanghai Commission of Commerce, said that the municipal government has chosen a number of large-scale comprehensive bonded exhibition and trading platforms to provide precise trading services to more companies. To that end, the local customs district in Shanghai is also exploring a new management model so that the bonded exhibition can be held throughout the year."CIIE is an ideal opportunity for Shanghai to upgrade its trade, consumption and opening-up," she said."With this, Shanghai will be able to build a global import trade promotion network, attract internationally competitive commodities and services, attract more trading entities to settle down in the city so that Shanghai's creativity and competitiveness will be greatly enhanced," she added.Shang also pointed out that one of the major tasks for the CIIE organizers is to complete the cooperation mechanism with neighboring provinces including Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, aiming at building a number of commercial, travel, cultural and sports brands featuring the Yangtze River Delta region.Source: China Daily

Innovation trend, Belt & Road improving business landscape

Low-end, labor-intensive and environmentally unfriendly foreign direct investment will no longer dominate China's investment landscape, as its primary engine of economic growth has shifted from exports and investment to consumption and innovation, business leaders said. FDI into high-tech manufacturing fields including medical, electronic and telecommunication equipment manufacturing maintained rapid growth in the first four months of this year. The figure jumped 79.5 percent year-on-year to 29.6 billion yuan ($4.65 billion), data from the Ministry of Commerce show. "The transformation comes after China decided to focus on the quality and sustainability of its economic growth rather than quantity," said Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. He said a green environment, stability, employment and the improvement of people's living standards are the government's priorities. In the past, foreign companies manufactured products in China and shipped them to global markets. The situation has changed dramatically as many multinationals want to sell in China, too. The country has become the world's largest market that no company can overlook, Zhang said. Shi Yong, vice-president of the China Machinery Industry Information Research Institute in Beijing, said that technological innovation and related services will be key investment areas for both domestic and global companies over the next decade. "China's global role has evolved from a low-cost manufacturer in the late 1990s to the world's growth engine around 2010, and now an unarguably global innovation engine, especially in areas such as high-speed trains, electronics, large passenger jets and nuclear power technologies," he said. Denis Depoux, CEO for China of global consultancy Roland Berger, said that, pushed by the fast development of the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese technologies are increasing their market share, but there is also a significant share of international technologies and investment deployed from China along the Belt and Road routes. "In addition to Chinese markets, many foreign companies are also shipping their products and solutions to countries and regions involved in the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road," he said. "Chinese companies, primarily State-owned enterprises, cooperate with foreign companies in third-party markets related to the initiative." Global companies, including ABB Group, Otis Elevator Co, Siemens AG and General Electric Co, have partnered with China's power, infrastructure, transportation and energy companies to tap the opportunities created by the Belt and Road Initiative, especially in engineering, procurement and construction projects. "Many of these opportunities come from many countries' surging demand for public services, manufacturing and infrastructure projects, especially in fast-growing economies such as Turkey, Poland and Qatar," said Claudio Facchin, president of ABB's power grids division. Judy Marks, president of Otis, said the markets related to the Belt and Road Initiative form an important platform for the group to enhance its global earning ability, as it exports a significant amount of its equipment manufactured in China to global markets. She said Shanghai is home to Otis' high-rise contracts and logistics center, which is part of its global major projects organization supporting its major high rise and infrastructure projects around the world. Supported by 15,000 employees including 7,500 mechanics, Otis currently operates six factories, nearly 200 regional branch offices and 550 service depots throughout China.

China to replicate FTZ practices nationwide

Chinese authorities are looking to replicate the latest successful practices in its pilot free trade zones (FTZs) around the rest of the country. In a circular published Wednesday, the State Council asked local authorities to adopt 27 practices that are now applied in the existing 11 FTZs as a way to pursue high-quality development and develop a modernized economy. The practices include expanding the transport area of international ships, offering online registration for general taxpayers, facilitating inspection and quarantine for empty cargo containers shipped by sea, and sharing of enterprise information. The State Council also ordered three practices to be replicated in particular sectors like regulation innovation for customs. FTZs are a way of testing new policies to explore new development models and better integrate the economy with international practices. China established its first FTZ in Shanghai in 2013. The total number of FTZs was brought to 11 after seven new FTZs were launched in April last year. Up to 153 practices piloted in the FTZs have so far been replicated to other regions or sectors, the State Council said.