Wider deeper opening up on the agenda

Revised negative list underway, with all other foreign investment curbs to go

China will remove all access restrictions on foreign investment in areas outside the negative list by the end of this year, as part of the country's overall effort to further open up the economy and pursue high-quality development, the nation's top economic regulator said on Monday.

Meng Wei, spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission, said China will continue to widen market access for foreign investment, and the nation is set to soon release the revised negative list on market access of foreign investment and the catalog of encouraged foreign investment industries.

"China welcomes foreign businesses to invest and develop in China. And we will continue to unswervingly expand opening up, create a more open and business-friendly environment and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investment," Meng said at a news conference in Beijing.

"Our negative lists will only be shortened further," Meng added. "By the end of this year, China will lift all barriers to foreign investment not included on the negative list. And China will encourage more foreign investment in more fields, especially for the central and western regions."