China, Australia embrace cooperation, free trade in face of rising

China and Australia inked a series of bilateral agreements and moved to expand free trade between the two major Asia-Pacific economies in a vote of confidence for regional cooperation in the face of rising protectionism.

China allows more foreign investment in onshore financial market

China's foreign exchange regulator has approved a bigger amount of foreign investment in the country's onshore financial market, official data showed on Monday.As of Feb. 27, 278 Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) have received quotas amounting 89.21 billion U.S. dollars, up from 87.31 billion dollars registered at the end of January, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).In total, 181 overseas institutions have received quotas amounting to 541.13 billion yuan (80.75 billion U.S. dollars) under the RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) program. It was 529.63 billion yuan a month earlier.China's currency, the yuan, is convertible for trade purposes under the current account, while the capital account, which covers portfolio investment and borrowing, is largely run by the state in an effort to control capital flow.To gradually liberalize the capital account, the government introduced the QFII and RQFII programs in 2003 and 2011, respectively, part of China's strategy to promote RMB's use overseas.The QFII program represents China's effort to allow licensed foreign investors to invest in China's RMB denominated capital market.The RQFII program allows institutional investors with offshore Renminbi deposits to invest in China's onshore market.The RQFII program is currently open to 18 countries and regions, including Britain, Singapore, France, the Republic of Korea, Germany, Qatar, Canada, Australia and Luxembourg as well as China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

China strengthens protection of intellectual property rights

BEIJING — China will strengthen the protection and use of intellectual property rights, a move to develop intellectual property and encourage innovation, according to an official on Jan 17.Gan Shaoning, deputy director of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said that the guideline, issued by the State Council, specified the goals and major tasks for the development of intellectual property during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).According to the plan, China will improve rules and regulations related to intellectual property rights in newly-emerged fields including Internet Plus, e-commerce and big data.China’s invention patent ownership will increase from 6.3 per 10,000 people in 2015 to 12 per 10,000 in 2020. Intellectual property royalties earned abroad will rise from $4.44 billion in 2015 to $10 billion in 2020, according to the plan.The plan also put forward seven major areas for improving intellectual property, including the legal system, protection of intellectual property rights, quality and benefits, industrial upgrading, and international cooperation and exchanges.

Anhui Increases Spending on Technical Innovation

Anhui's spending on technical innovation rose 14 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2017(Q1), quickening from last year’s 11 percent, official data showed Tuesday.The province's industrial investment reached 231.6 billion yuan ($33.7 billion) between January and March, up 10.2 percent from the same period a year ago, said the Anhui Provincial Commission of Economy and Information Technology.125 billion yuan, or 54 percent of the total, were injected in programs aimed at upgrading technology, representing a year-on-year rise of 14 percent. The growth rate was higher than the 11 percent increase recorded in the Jan-Mar period of 2016.The increases in industrial and technical-upgrading investment came after the local government announced a slew of incentives to encourage industrial firms to ramp up investment.Hefei, capital of the Chinese province, for example, released a 3-year action plan to promote technical updating and accelerate industrial transformation. Under the plan, financial support, favorable land policies and tax incentives were offered to local enterprises.Thanks to the guidance and incentives, the Hefei Economic Circle and the Hefei-Wuhu-Bengbu National Independent Innovation Demonstration Area saw booms in investment in technological innovation programs.The food processing sector posted a 33.2 percent rise in technical spending in Q1, followed by medicine (28 percent), equipment manufacturing (23.2 percent), and information technology (21.5 percent), statistics from the commission showed.From January to March, the province carried out more than 800 technical innovation programs, 126 among which were newly-added ones, the commission said.Meanwhile, up to 39.2 billion yuan, or 31.3 percent of the total budget, was poured into the ongoing projects.

How should foreign-invested enterprises pay taxes?

A foreign-funded business-starting investment enterprise (hereafter referred as FBIE) shall make tax declaration in accordance with the tax laws of the state. As to a non-legal-person organization, in accordance with the law, it may request all the investing parties to file returns for enterprise income taxes on their own, or file an application by itself, after the application has been approved, it shall, in accordance with the law, calculate and pay the enterprise income tax in a consolidated way.The concrete regulatory measures concerning the levy of enterprise income tax upon the non-legal-person FBIEs shall be promulgated separately by the State Administration of Taxation.It’s an international practice that non-legal-person partnership FBIEs enjoys low income taxation rate, and non-legal-person FBIEs have the same request in China. Though not explicitly written in the Provisions Concerning the Administration of Foreign-funded Business-starting Investment Enterprises, it retains that the tax authorities will formulate the specific corporate income tax collection management measures of non-legal-person FBIEs.

The foreign-funded enterprises in Hubei exceed 9,000

The development of foreign-funded enterprises in Hubei got off to a flying start in the first quarter of 2017: foreign-funded enterprises increased by 201, including 74 incorporated enterprises, up 31.37 percent and 76.39 percent, respectively; registered capital increased by 1.18 billion U.S.dollars, including paid-in capital of 1.003 billion U.S.dollars, up 144.05 percent and 165.92 percent, respectively, said the Hubei Administration for Industry and Commerce on April 9, 2017.