On January 7, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) held a special press conference to brief the public on the progress of further advancing the construction of a unified national market.

At the conference, Li Weizheng, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Market System Development of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that to date, the number of restrictive measures in the national version of the Negative List for Foreign Investment Access has been reduced to 29.

Li Weizheng explained that a unified national market is not a closed market operating behind closed doors, but one that is globally oriented and fully open. The Ministry of Commerce remains committed to advancing high-standard opening-up, proactively aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules, promoting reform through opening-up, facilitating efficient connectivity between domestic and international markets, and boosting the construction of a unified national market. Efforts will focus on the following four key areas:

First, cutting red tape in foreign investment market access. We will continue to shorten the Negative List for Foreign Investment Access, and as of now, the number of restrictive measures in the national version has been trimmed down to 29. In the manufacturing sector, restrictions on foreign investment access have been completely lifted. In the service sector, we will steadily expand opening-up in fields such as telecommunications, the internet, education, culture, and healthcare. In 2024, we issued the national and pilot free trade zone (FTZ) versions of the Negative List for Cross-border Trade in Services to promote greater opening-up in cross-border trade in services. Earlier, six departments including the Ministry of Commerce revised and issued the Measures for the Administration of Strategic Investments in Listed Companies by Foreign Investors, further lowering the threshold for foreign investment and encouraging foreign investors to engage in long-term and value investment.

Second, adding improvements to the business environment. We will implement national treatment for foreign-funded enterprises, give play to the role of the special work teams for key foreign-funded projects, improve the foreign investment complaint handling mechanism, ensure fair competition between domestic and foreign-funded enterprises, and enable foreign-funded enterprises to enter, stay and thrive in the Chinese market. Since 2024, officials from the Ministry of Commerce have hosted 15 roundtable meetings with foreign-funded enterprises, coordinating the resolution of over 370 issues for these enterprises. In the consumer goods trade-in program, the Ministry of Commerce has provided equal support to foreign-funded enterprises to participate. For motor vehicle scrappage and replacement, new vehicles of foreign brands accounted for approximately 35% of the total, driving rapid sales growth for foreign automakers. Meanwhile, many foreign nationals have also benefited from the trade-in subsidies.

Third, aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules. We will effectively implement the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), actively advance the process of joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), and continuously expand the global network of high-standard free trade areas. For instance, China has substantially concluded the negotiations on the 3.0 version of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and signed the Protocol to Upgrade the Free Trade Agreement with Peru. By aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules, we will promote the compatibility of rules, regulations, management and standards in broader areas such as property rights protection, industrial subsidies, environmental standards, government procurement, e-commerce and finance, facilitate efficient linkage between domestic and international markets, and drive continuous improvement of the domestic business environment.

Fourth, accelerating the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. Promoting the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is an important way to smooth the domestic and international dual circulation. The Ministry of Commerce has earnestly implemented the 18 policy measures issued by the General Office of the State Council on accelerating the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade, and deepened pilot programs for integrated domestic and foreign trade development in 9 regions. To address the difficulties encountered by enterprises in standards, channels, supervision and capital, the Ministry of Commerce has focused on advancing the alignment of domestic and foreign systems, connecting domestic and foreign market channels, optimizing the environment for integrated development, strengthening policy support, implementing the pacesetter initiative for enterprises with integrated domestic and foreign trade operations, building a number of platforms for the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade, and continuously improving the level of integrated domestic and foreign trade development of enterprises. In the first 11 months of 2024, enterprises engaged in integrated domestic and foreign trade operations accounted for 16.7% of all industrial enterprises above designated size.

Li Weizheng emphasized that moving forward, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to improve the institutional mechanisms for high-standard opening-up, sustain efforts to open up the market, and contribute to the construction of a unified national market.