China’s telecom, education, healthcare open to FDI

China has decided to open up its telecommunication, education and healthcare service sectors for foreign investors after suffering from a sharp decline in foreign direct investment (FDI).

An executive meeting of the State Council, presided over by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, on Monday reviewed and approved four documents that are aimed at helping the country attract foreign capital.

The documents include the 2024 edition of a set of special administrative measures, or a negative list, for foreign investment access. According to the negative list, China will relax restrictions on foreign investment further by completely abolishing entry barriers in the manufacturing sector, while accelerating the opening up of sectors such as telecommunication, education and health care services.

“The latest State Council executive meeting decided to upgrade the country’s service industry by encouraging the cross-border flows of essential resources such as talent, capital, technologies and data,” Zheng Wei, a researcher with Shanghai-based China Outsourcing Institute, a research unit operating under the Ministry Commerce, told the Economic Information Daily in an interview.

“The opening up of the telecommunication, education and healthcare sectors, which are relatively sensitive industries, demonstrates China’s determination to proactively open up its economy to the world,” Zheng said. “In the future, China will take more substantive measures to accelerate its opening up and further enhance the confidence of foreign investors in the country.”

When China started opening up its economy in the 1980s, it initially relaxed restrictions for foreign firms to invest in its manufacturing sector.

In the auto sector, foreign firms needed to set up