China Releases Action Program for Stabilizing and Promoting Foreign Investment in 2025

On February 19, 2025, the General Office of the State Council transmitted the Action Program for Stabilizing and Promoting Foreign Investment in 2025 from the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission (the “Program”), which has been effective from February 17, 2025. The program focuses on the orderly expansion of independent openness, elevating investment promotion efforts, strengthening the effectiveness of open platforms, and improving service guarantees, outlining twenty key tasks.

The Program requires the complete removal of foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing sector. It calls for revising the negative list of market access and ensuring that areas outside the list adhere to the principle of equal treatment for domestic and foreign investment. The Program also aims to expand the range of industries encouraged for foreign investment, update and expand the catalog of industries encouraged for foreign investment, direct foreign investment toward modern service industries, and support increased foreign investment in the central, western, and northeastern regions. Additionally, it seeks to increase efforts to attract investment in key areas, supporting foreign-funded enterprises in participating in China’s new industrialization process, particularly in high-tech sectors. The Program also enhances trade facilitation measures for foreign-funded enterprises, ensuring efficient issuance of certificates of origin under preferential trade agreements and enabling foreign-funded enterprises to benefit from tariff concessions on exports to agreement partners.