People’s Governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government; all ministries and commissions of the State Council; and all directly subordinate institutions of the State Council:
The 2025 Action Plan for Stabilizing Foreign Investment (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") formulated by the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission has been approved by the State Council. It is hereby transmitted to you for earnest implementation.
Foreign investment is a key component of advancing high-level opening-up and plays a vital role in developing new productive forces and realizing Chinese modernization. To do a good job in stabilizing foreign investment in 2025 and strengthen efforts to attract and retain foreign investment, the following Action Plan is formulated.
Support pilot regions in effectively publicizing and implementing policies for pilot opening-up in sectors including value-added telecommunications, biotechnology, and foreign-funded sole proprietorship hospitals. Provide "dedicated team-based" follow-up services for foreign-invested projects under negotiation in these sectors, promptly coordinate to resolve issues, and promote the early implementation of projects. Timely expand pilot opening-up in telecommunications and healthcare sectors. Study and formulate implementation plans for orderly expanding independent opening-up in education and culture sectors, and release them to the public in due course for steady implementation.
For sectors not included in the negative list for foreign investment access, foreign investment access shall be managed in strict accordance with the principle of treating domestic and foreign investors equally. Revise the negative list for market access, further reduce the number of items on the list, and expand opening-up to all types of business entities.
Support the Beijing Demonstration Zone in playing a leading role in expanding the opening-up of the service sector and accelerate and intensify pilot work. Further expand the scope of pilots, assign new content and tasks to them, and give priority to testing opening-up measures in key sectors in pilot demonstration regions. Conduct in-depth research on policies and measures for expanding the opening-up of the service sector, closely monitor the progress of pilots, and promptly replicate and promote successful pilot experiences. Support comprehensive pilot demonstration regions for expanding the opening-up of the service sector in carrying out standardized development.
Support qualified foreign-invested enterprises in participating in pilot projects for segmented production of biological products, accelerate the review and approval of provincial-level pilot plans and quality supervision plans, promote the optimal allocation of resources in the biomedical industry, and promptly coordinate to resolve difficulties and problems encountered by enterprises during the pilot process. Study and improve opening-up policies in the pharmaceutical sector to facilitate the accelerated launch of innovative drugs, optimize volume-based procurement of pharmaceuticals, and further enhance the predictability of procurement for medical device products.
Ensure the effective implementation of the Measures for the Administration of Strategic Investment by Foreign Investors in Listed Companies, formulate and issue operational guidelines for conducting strategic investment, strengthen publicity and interpretation for listed companies, overseas funds, and investment institutions, and guide more high-quality foreign capital to make long-term investments in China’s listed companies.
Implement requirements for deepening the reform of the foreign investment promotion system and mechanism, formulate an annual implementation plan for building the "Invest in China" brand, and carefully design and implement a series of "Invest in China" activities. Promote coordination between central and local authorities to carry out overseas investment promotion activities, and make better use of foreign investment to strengthen and complement the industrial chain in the manufacturing sector. Based on the distinct characteristics of China’s major sources of foreign investment, study and formulate differentiated goals and strategies for attracting investment, work closely with the mechanisms of bilateral economic and trade joint committees (mixed committees), fully activate the mechanisms of bilateral investment promotion working groups, and intensify efforts in project matching and connection.
Continuously optimize the business environment and effectively ensure that foreign-invested enterprises enjoy national treatment. Study and formulate policies and measures to encourage reinvestment of foreign-invested enterprises in China, and promote the increased use of profits earned by foreign-invested enterprises in China for reinvestment. Launch a pilot program for information reporting on domestic investment by foreign-invested enterprises.
Revise and expand the Catalog of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment, optimize the structure of foreign investment, promote foreign investment to serve the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing sector, guide foreign investment into modern service industries, and support more foreign investment in central-western and northeastern regions.
Allow foreign-invested investment companies to use domestic loans for equity investment, strengthen policy publicity and interpretation, and facilitate the establishment of headquarters-type institutions by multinational corporations in China.
Optimize regulations on the establishment of investment companies by foreign investors, and provide facilitation for multinational corporations to establish investment companies in China in areas such as foreign exchange management, personnel entry and exit, and cross-border data flow. Ensure that enterprises established in China through investment by relevant foreign-invested investment companies enjoy the treatment of foreign-invested enterprises in accordance with laws and regulations.
Under the framework of the Foreign Investment Law, revise the Provisions on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, optimize foreign investment M&A rules and transaction procedures, improve the scope of M&A management, and lower the threshold for cross-border share swaps.
Encourage foreign investment in animal husbandry-related sectors such as breeding, breeding equipment production, and feed and veterinary drug production, and ensure that foreign-invested enterprises in these sectors enjoy national treatment. Support foreign-invested enterprises in participating in China’s new-type industrialization drive, focus on attracting foreign investment in high-tech sectors, and provide more market opportunities and cooperation space for foreign-invested enterprises. Encourage the attraction and use of foreign investment in service sectors such as elderly care, culture and tourism, sports, healthcare, vocational education, and finance to meet the needs of multi-level service consumption.
Make full use of channels such as press conferences, briefings, interviews, and expert interpretations to actively publicize and explain China’s new policies, measures, and highlights in expanding high-level opening-up to the international community.
Improve the policy support system, formulate policy documents for deepening the reform and innovation of national economic and technological development zones, and introduce new measures in areas such as factor guarantee, opening-up in key sectors, undertaking reform pilot tasks, and delegating economic management authority to enhance the level of export-oriented economic development of national economic and technological development zones. Promote national high-tech industrial development zones, special customs supervision areas, and various provincial-level development zones to play a role in stabilizing foreign investment as opening-up platforms.
Promote the quality improvement and efficiency enhancement of pilot FTZs, expand the authorization of reform tasks, accelerate the implementation of core policies for the Hainan Free Trade Port, and build a highland for attracting foreign investment. Support pilot FTZs in conducting more stress tests in the field of foreign investment access, and continuously expand institutional opening-up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards.
Support the inclusion of more foreign-invested projects in the lists of major and key foreign-invested projects, strengthen policy support and service guarantees, and accelerate the implementation and construction of projects.
Formulate and issue relevant documents as soon as possible, clarify standards for government procurement of domestic products, and ensure that products produced by enterprises of all ownership types in China participate equally in government procurement activities. Strengthen policy publicity in the field of government procurement and properly handle complaints from foreign-invested enterprises.
Encourage financial institutions to provide financing services for foreign-invested enterprises, conduct surveys on the loan needs and investment and operation status of key foreign-invested enterprises, and organize targeted bank-enterprise matchmaking activities. Guide various funds to carry out equity investment cooperation with foreign-invested enterprises, and support foreign-invested enterprises in China in expanding their investment and operation scale and deepening their presence in the Chinese market.
Accelerate negotiations on mutual visa exemption agreements and continue to steadily expand the scope of countries eligible for unilateral visa exemption. Optimize policies on port visas, transit visa exemption, and regional entry visa exemption to facilitate cross-border personnel flow. Update the Guidelines for Foreign Business Personnel Working and Living in China.
Do a good job in issuing certificates of origin under preferential trade agreements to help foreign-invested enterprises enjoy tariff concessions from agreement partners for their exported goods. Optimize inspection and supervision of imported complete sets of equipment for key foreign-invested projects. Strengthen efforts to cultivate "Authorized Economic Operator (AEO)" status for foreign-invested enterprises in customs procedures, and further optimize and reduce the random inspection rate for AEOs. Actively and steadily promote the adoption of inspection results for imported goods, and include more qualified Chinese and foreign inspection institutions in the catalog of recognized institutions. Encourage foreign-invested enterprises to register their intellectual property rights, and resolutely crack down on acts of infringing on the intellectual property rights of foreign-invested enterprises in import and export links.
All regions and relevant departments shall, under the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, unswervingly deepen reform and opening-up, refine and implement specific measures, innovate working methods in investment promotion, rights protection, and service guarantees, and strengthen policy and factor support to ensure that all measures are implemented and effective by 2025 and effectively boost the confidence of foreign investors. They shall organize relevant departments to conduct special visits to key regions and key foreign-invested enterprises, gain a deep understanding of the demands of foreign-invested enterprises, and effectively respond to their concerns. The Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission shall, together with relevant departments and entities, strengthen guidance and coordination, conduct policy publicity, and promote the implementation of policies. Major matters shall be reported promptly in accordance with procedures.
