· Area of Law： Reform and Opening-up

· Level of Authority： Group Provisions

· Date issued：05-05-2015

· Effective Date：05-05-2015

· Status： Effective

· Issuing Authority： Central Committee of the Communist Party of China State Council

Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Developing a New System of Open Economy
（May 5, 2015）
Opening up to the rest of the world is China's basic national policy. At present, world multi-polarization and economic globalization are gaining further momentum, the international political and economic environment is undergoing profound changes, and the trend of innovation-led development is becoming even more apparent. Domestically, China's reform and opening-up campaign is at a new starting point, with in-depth adjustment to the economic structure, comprehensive progress of reforms in various aspects, and economic development entering the "new normal". Against new situations, challenges and tasks, it is imperative to co-ordinate the top-level design for an open economy, accelerate the development of a new system of open economy, and get rid of more structural and institutional obstacles, so as to achieve mutual promotion of domestic and international liberalization, better integrate the attraction of foreign investment into China and the investment by domestic enterprises overseas, rely on proactive liberalization to gain an upper hand in economic development and international competition, push forward reform, development and innovation by opening up, and develop China into an open economic power, thus laying a solid foundation for achieving the objectives set out for 2021 (the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China) and 2049 (the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China) and the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
1. Overall requirements on developing a new system of open economy
It is a must to comprehensively enforce the requirements laid down at the 18th National Congress of the CPC and the Second, Third and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC, steadfastly let the market play a decisive role in allocating resources and better play the role of the government, uphold equal importance of reform and opening-up and the rule of law, the combination of attracting foreign investment into China and outbound investment by Chinese enterprises, the unity of integrating with the rest of the world and maintaining Chinese characteristics, and the mutual promotion of coordinating domestic development and participating in global governance, and always grasp the initiative of liberalization and safeguard national security. Efforts shall be made to proactively adapt to the "new normal" of economic development, closely align with the implementation of the "One Belt, One Road" strategy and China's foreign affairs strategies, design scientific layouts, select the right breakthroughs and starting points, play the advantages of the socialist system, have a good grasp of the rhythm and order of liberalization, foster strengths and circumvent weaknesses, capitalize on development trends, achieve tangible results, guard against risks, maintaining security, and actively explore new models, paths and institutions for foreign economic cooperation. The overall objectives to be achieved are as follows: to nurture new advantages for international cooperation and competition at a quicker pace; to more actively promote the balance between domestic and external demand, import and export, and the attraction of foreign investment into China and outbound investment by Chinese enterprises; to progressively realize the overall balance of international payments; to form a new pattern of all-round opening-up; to modernize open economic governance systems and governance capabilities; to establish a correct view on rights and obligations in opening wider to the rest of the world; to earnestly safeguard national interests and maintain national security; and, to promote the common development of China and other countries in the world, and build a new system of open economy that is diversified, balanced, safe and efficient, and that brings about mutual benefits and win-win outcomes.
(1) A new mechanism for market allocation of resources shall be established. It is important to promote the orderly and free flow of international and domestic production factors, the efficient global allocation of resources, and the in-depth integration of international and domestic markets, accelerate the reform of institutions and mechanisms related to an open economy, and establish a fair and open modern market system of orderly competition.
(2) A new model for economic operation and management shall be formed. In accordance with the requirements on international development based on the rule of law, it is required to create a favorable legal environment, manage and open up the economy pursuant to the law, develop management approaches in line with international investment and trade rules of high standards, form mechanisms for participating in international macro-economic policy coordination, and promote the continuous improvement of the international economic governance structure; and, urge governments to take action based on the rule of law, encourage economic activities to be carried out according to market conditions, establish and improve a management mechanism whereby enterprises fulfill their responsibilities as main market players, governments conduct regulation pursuant to the law and the general public extensively participate in governance, and fine-tune the institutions and mechanisms to effectively safeguard national interests and security during opening-up.
(3) A new pattern of all-round opening-up shall take shape. It is essential to adhere to independent and reciprocal liberalization, step up planning for the "go global" strategy, and practice a more proactive strategy of free trade areas ("FTAs"), so as to expand new space for developing an open economy; and, continue to implement the general strategies for regional development characterized by the development of western China, the revitalization of northeast China, the rise of central China and the leadership of eastern China, focus on the implementation of the "One Belt, One Road" strategy, the strategy of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development and the Yangtze River Economic Belt strategy, promote eastern and western regions to open their markets to each other, facilitate infrastructure interoperability, and expand development and liberalization in border areas, so that a new pattern of all-round opening-up can take shape.
(4) New advantages shall be developed for international cooperation and competition. It is crucial to consolidate and expand areas of traditional advantage to China, and nurture new competitive edges at a quicker pace; and, take innovation-driven development as the guidance and quality and efficiency as the core to make vigorous efforts to create a competitive and orderly market environment, a transparent and efficient government administrative environment, a fair and just legal environment and a win-win and cooperative humanistic environment, accelerate the cultivation of comprehensive competitive advantages such as industry, location, business environment, standards and rules, etc., constantly enhance innovative capabilities, comprehensively upgrade China's position in the global value chain, and promote industrial restructuring and upgrading.
2. The foreign investment management regime shall be innovated.
It is necessary to improve the investment environment, expand market entry to services, further open up manufacturing, stabilize the scale and speed of foreign investment, and raise the quality of foreign investment attracted; and, reform the approaches of managing foreign investment by conducting examination and approval and issuing guidance of industries for investment, shift to the management model of pre-entry national treatment plus negative list, and promote innovation of the institutions and mechanisms of development zones, as well as their transformation and upgrading.
(5) Laws and regulations on domestic and foreign investment shall be unified. It is important to revise the Law on Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprises, the Law on Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprises and the Law on Foreign-invested Enterprises, formulate new basic laws on foreign investment, and include the contents on regulating and guiding foreign investors and their investment behavior into such basic laws. Where general aspects such as the organizational structure, business activities, etc. of foreign-invested enterprises may be governed by laws and regulations uniformly applicable to all types of market players, uniform laws and regulations shall be applied according to the principle of equal treatment of domestic and foreign investment. In addition, the stability, transparency and predictability of foreign investment policies shall be maintained to create a standardized institutional environment and a stable market environment.
(6) The management model of pre-entry national treatment plus negative list shall be promoted. It is required to improve the market entry system for foreign investment, and explore foreign investment management by a model of pre-entry national treatment plus negative list; relax market entry restrictions on foreign investment in services on the basis of proper risk assessment and in a targeted and multi-level manner, promote the orderly liberalization of finance, education, culture, medical care and other service industries, liberalize market entry restrictions on foreign investment in infant nursery and elderly care, architectural design, accounting and audit, commerce and trade logistics, e-commerce, etc., and further open up general manufacturing; and, gradually reduce restrictions on foreign investment in transportation, telecommunications and other infrastructure, as well as mining and other related fields under the premise of maintaining national security.
(7) The foreign investment regulatory regime shall be improved. According to the requirements on strengthening regulation at the same time of expanding liberalization, it is essential to strengthen interim and ex post regulation, establish a foreign investment information reporting system and a foreign investment information disclosure platform, give full play to the platform role of the enterprise credit information disclosure platform, and form a whole-process foreign investment regulatory system where various government departments share information and coordinate regulation, and the general public participate in supervision, so as to make foreign investment regulation more scientific, standardized and transparent, and prevent chaos caused by deregulation.
(8) Development zones shall be pushed to transform, upgrade and practice innovative development. It is crucial to strengthen planning guidance and innovative development of national-level economic and technological development zones, high-tech industrial development zones, zones under special customs regulation, provincial development zones and other various types of development zones; play the leading role of development zones, vigorously develop advanced manufacturing, production-oriented service industries and technology service industries, promote industrial upgrading within development zones, build collaborative innovation platforms, and upgrade industrial structures, the value-added, quality, brands and technological levels of products, and innovation capabilities in a comprehensive manner; push ahead the green, low-carbon and recycling development of development zones, and continue to deepen international cooperation in energy conservation and environmental protection; and, constantly improve the investment environment, further standardize the administrative management system, improve decision-making, implementation, supervision and assessment and appraisal systems, avoid homogeneous competition, and strive to build development zones into important platforms for spurring regional economic development and implementing regional development strategies, vanguards for building a new system of open economy and nurturing new advantages for attracting foreign investment, and model areas or environmentally-friendly and intensive development driven by scientific and technological innovation.
3. A new regime facilitating the implementation of the "go global" strategy shall be established.
It is necessary to implement the national strategy of "go global", and enhance coordinated planning and guidance; and, establish the role of enterprises and individuals as the players for outbound investment, strive to raise the quality and efficiency of outbound investment, promote infrastructure interoperability and the export of competitive industries, carry out advanced technology cooperation, enhance the ability of Chinese enterprises to engage in international operations, avoid vicious competition, and safeguard China's rights and interests in outbound investment.
(9) The national strategy of "go global" in the new era shall be determined and implemented. According to the overall planning for national economic and social development as well as the overall strategies of opening-up, it is important to fine-tune the mid-to-long-term development planning for outbound investment, enhance the coordinated planning and guidance for "going global", and provide policy support and investment facilitation; encourage enterprises to develop mid-to-long-term international development strategies, take into account both current and long-term interests, and engage in operations overseas pursuant to the law; and, urge enterprises to fulfill their social responsibilities and establish a good image.
(10) Outbound investment shall be facilitated. It is required to study and formulate regulations on outbound investment; enforce the principles that enterprises shall make independent investment decisions and assume profits and losses on their own, relax restrictions on outbound investment, simplify outbound investment management, and manage all outbound investment projects by record-filing except for a limited number of projects that are subject to special provisions; accelerate the establishment of a qualified domestic individual investor system; and, strengthen the construction of outbound investment cooperation information platforms.
(11) The ways of outbound investment cooperation shall be innovated. Enterprises and individuals shall be allowed to leverage their own advantages to engage in investment cooperation overseas, to contract engineering projects and labor service cooperation projects in various countries and regions by assuming risks on their own, and to adopt innovative means to carry out greenfield investment, merger and acquisition investment, securities investment, joint investment, etc. overseas. Enterprises with competitive strength are encouraged to engage in infrastructure investment and energy and resources cooperation overseas by a variety of means. In addition, it is essential to promote the export of high-speed railway, nuclear power, aviation, machinery, electric power, telecommunications, metallurgy, construction materials, light industry, textile and other industries that China holds advantages, enhance the international exposure of modern service industries such as Internet information services, and promote e-commerce businesses to go global; actively and steadily promote overseas agricultural investment cooperation; support the international adoption of major Chinese technical standards; and, innovate in the development models of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, and support domestic investors to independently construct and manage such zones.
(12) The system for serving and protecting the "go global" drive shall be improved. It is crucial to accelerate investment treaty negotiation and conclusion with relevant countries and regions, improve the consular protection system to provide more services which include rights and interests protection, investment promotion, risk early warning, etc., and facilitate outbound investment cooperation; safeguard the personal and property safety of Chinese citizens stationed abroad; and, play the role of intermediaries, and foster a number of intermediaries with international vision that engage in design and consulting, asset valuation, credit rating, legal services, etc.
(13) The efforts to attract foreign investment into China shall be organically combined with the efforts to go global. It is critical to promote the organic combination and mutual support of the efforts to attract foreign investment into China and those to invest overseas, and push for mutually beneficial industrial investment cooperation with various countries and regions that bring out win-win outcomes; leverage China's advantages and conditions to promote the common development of other countries and regions; encourage enterprises to carry out international cooperation in multiple areas such as technological innovation, project matching, information exchange, human resources development, etc.; support all regions and enterprises to effectively attract foreign investment, talents, technology, etc., and actively explore international markets; and, use various investment cooperation mechanisms to share China's successful experiences in attracting foreign investment to promote the countries concerned to create a favorable investment environment.
4. A new mechanism for the sustainable development of foreign trade shall be created.
It is necessary to maintain China's traditional foreign trade advantages, accelerate the cultivation of new competitive edges in foreign trade, and focus on tackling the acute issues constraining the sustained development and transformation and upgrading of foreign trade; and, comprehensively sharpen foreign trade competitiveness, raise foreign trade facilitation, improve the import and export promotion system, beef up the trade friction response mechanism, vigorously develop trade in services, and promote the quality improvement, efficiency enhancement and upgrading of foreign trade.
(14) The level of trade facilitation shall be raised. It is important to reinforce the grand customs clearance coordination mechanism, and enable relevant port administrations to exchange information, recognize mutual regulation and provide mutual law enforcement assistance; accelerate the development of international trade "one-stop service counters", and comprehensively roll out new customs clearance models such as "joint inspection and one-off release" by relevant port administrations; rely on E-port platforms to promote the lateral interconnection of the operating systems of relevant port administrations, and establish an information sharing and joint use mechanism; explore innovation of port inspection mechanisms and pilot comprehensive law enforcement by relevant port administrations; accelerate the integration and optimization of zones under special customs regulation; accelerate the reform of integrated customs clearance, and promote paperless customs clearance operations; carry out exchange, cooperation and mutual recognition of inspection and quarantine, certification and accreditation, technical standards, etc. with major trading partners; build up all-round capacity for port inspection and quarantine, and improve the product quality and safety risk early warning and rapid response system; and, consolidate and standardize for-profit services and charges during import and export.
(15) New competitive edges shall be nurtured for foreign trade. It is required to optimize market layout and trade structure; stabilize the export of products that China holds traditional advantages, further promote the strategy of winning market share by quality, raise the quality and grade of exports and the weight of innovative elements in exports, and export more technology and complete sets of large equipment; strengthen the construction of the foreign trade integrity system, and standardize the import and export order; encourage enterprises to carry out technological and business model innovation, and accelerate the cultivation of new competitive edges for foreign trade whose core aspects are technology, brand, quality and service; encourage the development of cross-border e-commerce, market procurement trade and other new types of trade; make active efforts to resolve the technology and policy issues facing e-commerce in their domestic and overseas development, enhance international coordination in terms of standards, payment, logistics, customs clearance, inspection and quarantine, taxation and other aspects, participate in the formulation of relevant rules, innovate in cross-border e-commerce cooperation methods, integrate into foreign retail systems, and resolve related trade frictions; optimize the mix of imports, encourage the import of advanced technology, key equipment and parts and components, stabilize the import of resource-oriented products, and reasonably increase the import of general consumer goods; foster international bulk commodity trading platforms; and, raise the percentage of general trade and trade in services, promote the transformation and upgrading of processing trade, upgrade industries, improve the quality and value-added of processing trade, extend the industrial chain of processing trade, and increase the rate of growth of processing trade.
(16) A system promoting trade in services shall be established and improved. It is essential to elevate the strategic position of trade in services, focus on expanding the size of trade in services, and promote the facilitation and liberalization of trade in services; encourage the development of production-oriented trade in services; rely on big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, mobile Internet and other new technologies to promote the transformation of services and foster new service models; innovate in the financial service system for trade in services, and establish port management and customs clearance cooperation models suitable for trade in services; increase service value-added in trade in goods, and promote the coordinated development of manufacturing and services, as well as trade in goods and trade in services; push the domestic service market to improve systems, standards, rules and regulatory frameworks to facilitate the cross-border movement of professionals and professional services; develop a standardized service sector system in line with international standards, and step up international cooperation in talent grooming, qualification mutual recognition, standards formulation and other aspects related to trade in services; and, promote the upgrading of service outsourcing, enhance service cross-border delivery capabilities, and build high-level service outsourcing model cities.
(17) Quality and efficiency-oriented foreign trade policies shall be adopted. It is crucial to support foreign trade activities that are characterized by high technical contents, large added-value, low resource and energy consumption, minor environmental pollution and strong industrial relevance to achieve green, low-carbon and sustainable foreign trade development; further improve the export tax rebate system, and optimize export tax rebate processes; improve the export credit insurance system; and, strengthen the monitoring and analysis of trade risks and foreign exchange risks, announce relevant risk reminders as appropriate, and guide enterprises to effectively avoid export risks.
(18) The trade friction response mechanism shall be perfected. It is critical to reinforce the comprehensive response mechanism featuring the joint operations of relevant departments at the central level, relevant local governments, industry associations and chambers of commerce, as well as enterprises, and guide enterprises to properly issue early warnings against, engage in consultation and dialogue of, and file lawsuits against, trade frictions; properly resolve trade disputes through rational and restrained negotiations to resolve differences and strive for win-win outcomes, and use rules skillfully to negotiate and counter abuse of trade protection measures and discriminatory practices; and, carry out trade remedy investigations pursuant to the law to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of domestic industries and enterprises.
5. The regional layout for opening-up shall be optimized.
It is necessary to construct free trade parks and zones, coordinate eastern, central and western regions, as well as land and sea resources in an overall manner, expand liberalization to and cooperation with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions, promote the formation of a new pattern of all-round regional liberalization, and rely on the quality improvement and efficiency enhancement of regional liberalization to drive the coordinated development of the economy as a whole.
(19) A number of pilot free trade parks and zones shall be constructed. It is important to deepen the reform and opening-up of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, further liberalize services and advanced manufacturing, form a policy support system that promotes investment and innovation, apply some of the liberalization measures to the Pudong New Area, promptly summarize the experiences of pilot reform initiatives, and duplicate and roll out the same at the national level. Moreover, relying on existing pilot zones and parks, efforts shall be made to promote the full implementation of the overall plans for the Guangdong, Tianjin and Fujian pilot free trade zones, develop new pilot initiatives mainly based on the pilot measures taken by the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and in light of local characteristics, gradually expand reforms to other regions in the future according to the needs of national development strategies, and promote the implementation of a new round of high-level liberalization.
(20) A new inland opening-up mechanism shall be improved. Seizing the opportunities of global industrial relocation, it is required to actively explore new paths to undertake industry transfer by relying on inland central cities and metropolitan areas and using development zones and industrial clusters as platforms, innovate in processing trade models, steadily push enterprises whose conditions permit to transfer to inland regions the production of complete sets of equipment, the support and research and development ("R&D") of parts, components and raw materials, the provision of settlement services, etc. by leveraging key regions for undertaking the gradient transfer of processing trade, form industrial clusters, and support inland central cities to establish advanced manufacturing centers; encourage regional cooperation to co-build industrial parks, and promote the coordinated development of trade, investment and technological innovation in inland regions; and, support inland cities to launch more international passenger and freight routes, and develop river-ocean transport as well as railway-waterway, land-aviation and other forms of multimodal transport, so as to form a foreign economic corridor that extends across the country.
(21) New pivot points shall be developed for opening up border areas. It is essential to build key border pilot development and liberalization zones and border economic cooperation zones into important platforms for cooperation between China and neighboring countries, and accelerate the pace of opening up border areas; allow key ports along the border, border cities and border economic cooperation zones to adopt special methods and policies in terms of personnel exchange, processing and logistics, tourism, etc.; establish new border economic cooperation zones, and adjust and expand existing ones in an orderly manner pursuant to relevant provisions; steadily develop cross-border economic cooperation zones, and launch infrastructure construction within Chinese territories in light of relevant planning in advance where conditions permit; construct energy and resources import and processing bases, and engage in industrial cooperation targeting neighboring markets; and, encourage border areas to enhance pragmatic cooperation with the local governments of neighboring countries.
(22) New highlands shall be created for opening-up along coastal regions. It is crucial to play the role of the Yangtze River Delta region, the Pearl River Delta region and the Bohai Economic Rim region as gateways to opening-up, build a number of international metropolis and metropolitan areas that serve the whole country and open to the rest of the world, and develop coastal economic belts with even stronger international influence; promote the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province; support coastal regions to develop high-end industries, strengthen technological R&D and speed up their transformation from global processing and assembly bases to R&D and advanced manufacturing bases, and promote pioneering projects of service sector liberalization; and, rely on the Yangtze river golden waterway to push forward the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, build a new support belt for China's economy, and construct a new corridor for dual liberalization via both land and sea.
(23) Liberalization to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions shall be stepped up. It is critical to play the role of Hong Kong and Macao as platforms and role models of opening-up, deepen closer economic and trade partnership arrangements between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, and accelerate the full liberalization of trade in services with Hong Kong and Macao; properly develop the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone, the Zhuhai Hengqin New Area and the Guangzhou Nansha Development Zone; encourage Mainland enterprises to join forces with Hong Kong and Macao businesses to go global; support Mainland enterprises to raise funds in Hong Kong, and organically combine outbound industrial investment with Hong Kong's financial capital; encourage Mainland enterprises to jointly set up investment funds with Hong Kong and Macao enterprises, and carry out investment cooperation in various ways; push Macao to properly diversify its economy; promote the normalization, institutionalization and liberalization of cross-strait economic relations, and gradually improve the cross-strait economic cooperation mechanism; enhance cross-strait industrial cooperation, and cooperation in terms of two-way trade investment and facilitation; give full play to the pioneering role of the Western Taiwan Straits Economic Zone, the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone and the Kunshan Experimental Zone for Deepening Cross-strait Industrial Cooperation; and, deepen and expand cooperation with institutions of higher learning, scientific research institutes and enterprises in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions with regard to technological R&D, innovation and entrepreneurship.
6. Implementation of the "One Belt, One Road" strategy shall be accelerated.
In implementing the "One Belt, One Road" strategy, it is necessary to focus on policy communication, infrastructure interoperability, smooth trade flow, financing facilitation and people-to-people communication, promote all-round cooperation with countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route, build a community of interest, fate and responsibility, deepen multi-level economic and trade cooperation with the said countries, and drive the development of China's border areas and inland regions.
(24) Infrastructure interoperability shall be promoted. It is important to accelerate the formation of grand international channels, build a safe and smooth comprehensive transportation network that connects locations both domestically and overseas, and improve transportation cooperation platforms and mechanisms; consolidate and expand cooperation of electricity transmission, fiber optic communication, etc.; and, deepen cooperation in terms of energy and resource development and channel construction.
(25) Economic and trade cooperation with countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route shall be deepened. China and the countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route shall mutually open up more of their markets, deepen all-round cooperation in customs, inspection and quarantine, standards, certification, transit and transportation, etc., foster and strengthen industries with local special advantages, and promote cooperation concerning China's complete sets of large equipment, technology and standards. It is also required to import more non-resource products to promote trade balance; push enterprises to set up warehousing and logistics bases and distribution centers in countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route to improve regional marketing networks; enhance industrial investment cooperation with countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route, jointly build a number of economic and trade cooperation zones, and drive countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route to increase employment opportunities and improve people's livelihood; and, encourage the development of e-commerce targeting countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route, and advocate multilateral e-commerce cooperation.
(26) Frequent science, technology and humanistic exchanges shall be carried out. It is essential to expand the exchange of students between China and countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route, encourage institutions of higher learning with competitive strength to run schools abroad, and carry out overseas educational cooperation; promote international health cooperation; strengthen scientific and technological cooperation with countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route, and adopt a variety of means to jointly tackle major scientific and technological research issues; promote production-academics-research coordination and cooperation, closely assign the cooperation of key economic and trade projects with science, technology and humanistic exchanges; and, advance international cultural cooperation and exchanges, hold culture years, art festivals and other activities both in China and in countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route, support such countries to bid for major international sports events, step up tourism investment cooperation with such countries, and jointly create international boutique tourism itineraries and products featuring Silk Road characteristics.
(27) Marine economic cooperation shall be actively pushed forward. It is crucial to vigorously develop marine economy, and formulate policies and regulations promoting marine economic development; properly handle disputes and differences, and establish marine economic cooperation and joint development mechanisms; and, strengthen international cooperation in deep-sea fishery.
(28) Construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor shall be solidly pushed forward. Since the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor are both closely associated with "One Belt, One Road" construction, it is critical to make more efforts to deepen research and promote cooperation; actively explore four-party cooperation models under the framework of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, develop pragmatic cooperation programs for this economic corridor, and launch a number of early harvest projects that are easy to operate and will generate returns fairly quickly; and, jointly promote the preparation of a long-term planning for the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and guide Chinese enterprises to participate in construction activities in an orderly manner.
7. New space for international economic cooperation shall be expanded.
It is necessary to consolidate and strengthen the multilateral trading system, accelerate the implementation of FTA strategies, actively participate in global economic governance, aspire to be both a participant and a leader of international economic and trade rules, expand international cooperation and exchange, and make efforts to form a deeply-integrated network of mutual benefits and cooperation.
(29) World trade systems and rules shall be adhered to. It is important to uphold the role of the multilateral trading system as the main channel for global trade and investment liberalization, adhere to the principle of balanced and inclusive development that brings about win-win outcomes, and oppose trade and investment protectionism; actively enforce the "Bali Package", push forward the formulation of work plans post the Bali Package, and strive for an early conclusion of the Doha Round negotiations; advance negotiations to expand the scope of the Information Technology Agreement and negotiations on the Environmental Goods Agreement, and push forward negotiations on China's accession to the Agreement on Government Procurement; support the World Trade Organization to continue strengthening trade policy supervision mechanisms and improving dispute resolution mechanisms; and, further strengthen trade policy compliance work.
(30) A high-standard FTA network shall be established. It is required to accelerate the implementation of FTA strategies, always implement policies in a classified manner and make meticulous efforts to focus on details to gradually build up a high-standard FTA network that is based on neighboring countries and regions, covers the "One Belt, One Road" initiative and extends its reach globally, actively expand the liberalization of services, expedite negotiations on new issues such as environmental protection, investment protection, government procurement, e-commerce, etc., and actively promote international innovation cooperation; and, make active efforts to implement the achievements reached through China-Korea and China-Australia FTA negotiations, upgrade the China-ASEAN FTA, push forward the negotiations between China and relevant countries on free trade agreements and the construction of FTAs, steadily promote the construction of a China-EU FTA and an Asia-Pacific FTA, and activate negotiations on free trade agreements with other trading partners in due course.
(31) China shall actively participate in global economic governance. It is essential to promote the reform of the global economic governance system, support the United Nations, the G20, etc. to play their role as major platforms for global economic governance, push the BRICS cooperation mechanism to play its role, and jointly raise the voice and representation of emerging markets and developing countries in global economic governance; and, participate in the change and rule-making of the international economic system in a comprehensive manner, proactively propose new ideas, initiatives and action plans with regard to global issues, and enhance China's voice in the formulation of international economic and trade rules and standards.
(32) New patterns of multilateral, bilateral and all-round economic and trade cooperation shall be developed. It is crucial to uphold a correct view on rights and obligations, perform social responsibilities while reaping benefits, and carry out pragmatic cooperation according to local realities; add more economic and trade aspects to the Sino-US new type of great power relations, deepen Sino-EU cooperation in various fields, promote Sino-US and Sino-EU investment agreement negotiations in a coordinated manner, and make overall coordination of the progress for domestic reform and external liberalization; promote China-Russia economic and trade relations to develop by leaps and bounds; deepen cooperation with developing countries; enhance macro policy communication and coordination with countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route; improve regional and sub-regional cooperation mechanisms, play the role of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Asia-Europe Meeting and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and reinforce Sino-Africa, Sino-Arab and Sino-Latin America cooperation mechanisms; promote sub-regional cooperation in areas such as the greater Mekong regions, central Asia, the Tumen River areas and the Pan-Beibu Gulf regions; and, strengthen overall coordination and raise the efficiency of bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms, and focus on achieving tangible results.
(33) New mechanisms shall be established for international economic and trade negotiations. It is critical to lose no time in establishing negotiation mechanisms that are lawful, orderly, scientific and efficient, and that are capable of being effectively coordinated and implemented; coordinate negotiation resources and bargaining power, make scientific decisions on negotiation plans, and optimize negotiation processes; strengthen the implementation and supervision of negotiation plans and the performance evaluation of negotiation, and raise the strength and effectiveness of negotiations with external parties; and, give full play to the positive role of relevant deliberation and coordination mechanisms, and improve the authorization and approval system for international economic and trade negotiations.
8. An open and secure financial system shall be built.
It is necessary to further open up the financial industry, steadily push forward RMB internationalization, expand the scope, methods and scale of cross-border RMB use, and accelerate RMB capital account convertibility.
(34) The financial industry shall be further liberalized. It is important to relax the restrictions on shareholding percentages of the securities industry in an orderly fashion on the basis of continuous assessment, improved prudent regulation and effective risk management and control, open up the banking industry in an orderly manner, and form a fair, orderly and benign financial ecological environment; raise the level of international operation of financial institutions, and encourage them to prudently carry out cross-border mergers and acquisitions, improve their networks of overseas branches, raise the level of financial services and enhance international cooperation in the fields of payment and market infrastructure; and, establish and improve the international financial cooperation mechanism that supports the innovative development of science and technology.
(35) Two-way and orderly liberalization of the capital market shall be promoted. It is required to actively and steadily promote RMB capital account convertibility; facilitate domestic and overseas market players to engage in cross-border investment and financing; further liberalize the futures market, and allow overseas institutions that satisfy the prescribed conditions to trade specific types of futures products; conduct research to allow domestic banks, securities companies and other financial institutions and enterprises to participate in offshore financial derivatives markets under the premise of having real trade and investment background; and, study to gradually open up the financial derivatives market on the back of controllable risks.
(36) A financial system supporting the "go global" strategy shall be established. It is essential to develop an outbound investment financial support system that combines policy finance with commercial finance, and promote the joint export of financial capital and industrial capital; improve outbound investment and financing mechanisms, explore the establishment of domestic trading and financing platforms for overseas equity assets, and provide enterprises with the financing option of "domestic loans secured by overseas guarantee"; develop various forms of outbound investment funds, promote the establishment and effective functioning of the Silk Road Fund, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the BRICS New Development Bank, and build a financing institution for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; and, make good use of investment and financing international cooperation mechanisms, select the right priorities, and actively promote cooperation with countries along the "One Belt, One Road" route.
(37) Cross-border RMB use shall be expanded. It is crucial to promote the construction of the currency stabilization system, investment and financing system and credit system in Asia; facilitate local currency swap cooperation, further expand the scale of current account RMB settlement, and support multinational enterprise groups to engage in the centralized operations of RMB funds; use RMB as the main pricing currency in foreign-related economic management, accounting and statistics compilation; accelerate the construction of the RMB cross-border payment system, and further improve the RMB clearing system worldwide; further broaden the channels for RMB export, and encourage the use of RMB in disbursing loans and making investment overseas; develop regional RMB bond markets, further facilitate overseas institutions to invest in the domestic bond market, support overseas institutions to issue RMB debt financing instruments domestically, and steadily push domestic financial institutions and enterprises to issue RMB bonds overseas; and, support the innovation of RMB-denominated financial products available offshore, accelerate the development of offshore RMB markets, and expand the overseas circulation of RMB.
(38) The exchange rate formation mechanism and the foreign exchange administration regime shall be improved. It is critical to expand the floating range of RMB exchange rates in an orderly manner, and enhance the two-way floating flexibility of RMB exchange rates; deepen the reform of the foreign exchange administration system, further facilitate market players to use foreign exchanges, and advance the reform of administration over the settlement of foreign exchange capitals by foreign-invested enterprises according to the negative list principle; and, innovate in the ways to use national foreign exchange reserves, and broaden diversified channels for reserves use.
9. A stable, fair, transparent and predictable business environment shall be developed.
It is necessary to enhance the development of the rule of law for opening-up, always liberalize markets pursuant to the law, make vigorous efforts to foster players for liberalization, give full play to the role of industry associations and chambers of commerce, and focus on building a stable, fair, transparent and predictable business environment.
(39) Rule of law shall be built up for an open economy. It is important to adapt to the constant deepening of liberalization, improve the system of foreign-related laws and regulations, ensure major opening-up initiatives have legal bases, and create a standardized environment for rule of law; play the leading and stimulating role of the rule of law, and accelerate the formation of a high-standard system of trade and investment rules; promote legislative, law enforcement and judicial development for both domestic and international opening-up by following the basic directions of protecting property rights, upholding contracts, unifying markets, ensuring equal exchange and fair competition, and conducting effective regulation; actively participate in international economic and trade legal exchanges; and, beef up foreign-related legal services to safeguard the legitimate economic rights and interests of Chinese citizens and legal persons overseas and the legitimate economic rights and interests of foreign citizens and legal persons in China.
(40) Vigorous efforts shall be made to foster market players for liberalization. It is required to perfect the regulatory regime for opening up State-owned capital, actively develop mixed ownership economy, and encourage enterprises of all types of ownership to play their own advantages and get deeply involved in international industrial division of labor and cooperation; support domestic enterprises to absorb advanced factors of production, nurture internationally renowned brands and enhance the breadth and depth for participation in the global value chain, so as to form a number of multinational companies that are internationally renowned and influential; and, encourage domestic enterprises with competitive advantages to establish overseas production, processing and comprehensive service systems, allocate resources and develop markets on a global scale, and expand new space for their development.
(41) The environment for market competition shall be optimized. It is essential to establish a unified, open, competitive and orderly market system and regulatory rules; and, accelerate the transformation of government functions, improve the economic management system and operation mechanism, gradually establish a system of power lists, strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and the construction of anti-monopoly systems, perfect the integrity system of the whole society, clean up various provisions and practices that obstruct the formation of a unified national market and hinder fair competition, and ensure that enterprises of all types of ownership have equal access to production factors pursuant to the law, participate in market competition in an open, fair and impartial manner, and enjoy equal legal protection.
(42) The environment for scientific and technological innovation shall be improved. It is crucial to accelerate the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, actively integrate into the global innovation network, comprehensively raise the level of international cooperation for scientific and technological innovation in China, and make more and better use of global innovation resources; focus on building a market-oriented technological innovation system where enterprises are the main players and which integrates production, academics and research, improve incentive mechanisms for technological innovation, and support enterprises to participate in the allocation of global innovation resources and enhance their capabilities of independent innovation during liberalization and cooperation; improve the mechanism for re-innovation based on the introduction, digestion and absorption of imported technologies, encourage enterprises to step up international cooperation in technology R&D, and accelerate the R&D and application of new technologies, products and processes; and, actively get involved in major international science and technology programs and projects, and carry out multi-level and multi-field international science and technology cooperation in various forms.
(43) The role of industry associations and chambers of commerce shall be played. It is critical to give full play to the positive role of industry associations and chambers of commerce in formulating technical standards, regulating industry orders, exploring international markets, responding to trade frictions, etc., and sharpen their capabilities in organization and coordination, as well as industry self-disciplinary management; stick to the direction of public and market-oriented reform of industry associations and chambers of commerce, and push industry associations and chambers of commerce to shift their work focuses to serving enterprises, industries and markets; support industry associations and chambers of commerce to enhance exchanges and cooperation with international industry organizations, construct international service platforms and reform internal management systems and incentive systems, so as to beef up the capacity for sustainable development; and, strengthen the development of industry associations and chambers of commerce for Chinese-funded enterprises overseas.
10. The construction of supporting and safeguarding mechanisms shall be strengthened.
It is necessary to train talents who can adapt to the requirements of a new system of open economy, improve channels for external exchange, carry out effective humanistic exchanges and outreach, and further improve supporting and safeguarding measures.
(44) Liberal talent policies shall be implemented. It is important to step up talent grooming, build a scientific and effective mechanism for personnel selection and appointment, and gather sufficient international talent resources; improve the system for attracting talents, fine-tune the foreigner permanent residence regime, and create a favorable working and living environment attractive to top overseas talents; support and recommend outstanding talents to take up positions and serve at international organizations; actively explore international or regional mutual recognition of professional qualifications; and, encourage and support social professional teams engaging in international cooperation to accelerate development, and make better use of social resources to carry out international cooperation.
(45) Think tanks shall be built for the opening-up strategy. It is required to strengthen the development of new-type think tanks with Chinese characteristics, play the role of think tanks, promote international study exchanges between and among think tanks, and build think tank forces with an international vision and strategic awareness, so as to raise the level of planning for the opening-up strategy and the capabilities to serve international economic and trade cooperation; and, step up forward-looking study of relevant countries, regions and key areas of cooperation, and provide Chinese governments and enterprises with policy advice and intellectual support.
(46) Humanistic exchanges and outreach shall be effectively carried out. It is essential to keep pace with the times, build up the capacity for international information dissemination, promote the export of Chinese culture, and effectively safeguard cultural safety and educational safety during liberalization; make comprehensive use of international and domestic resources, and groom and train more outstanding talents with global vision; effectively hold the Boao Forum for Asia, deepen cooperation with the World Economic Forum, voice China's concerns and thoughts by using international platforms, and deepen mutual understanding and trust between China and the rest of the world; make friends with an extensive array of political parties, governments, enterprises, civil societies, academia and media across the world; and, encourage Chinese enterprises that have invested overseas to adopt a variety of means to train local technical talents, enhance mutual trust, address local concerns, promote people-to-people understanding, build consensus and strength, and create an environment of international public opinions and external development that is favorable to China.
11. An open economy security protection framework shall be established and improved.
It is necessary to vigorously strengthen the security work of liberalization, steadfastly safeguard China's core interests while opening up wider to the rest of the world, establish an open economy security protection framework that is scientific and efficient and boasts all required systems, improve relevant institutions and mechanisms, and effectively manage and control risks, so as to successfully ramp up the ability to safeguard national security.
(47) The national security review mechanism for foreign investment shall be improved. It is important to fine-tune the legal system for national security review of foreign investment, and formulate regulations on national security review of foreign investment; establish foreign investment national security review systems that are suitable to the model of management by negative list; and, refine the scope of national security review, strengthen interim and ex post regulation, give full play to the role of public oversight, and ensure the effective implementation of security review measures.
(48) A risk prevention and control system shall be established for the "go global" strategy. It is required to make comprehensive use of economic, diplomatic, legal and other means to regulate the order of "going global", prevent herd behavior and vicious competition, safeguard China's national image, and push Chinese enterprises that have ventured overseas to conscientiously practice the correct view on rights and obligations; strengthen the development of overseas risk prevention and control systems, and enhance the quality and level of outbound investment cooperation; and, reinforce the supervision and administration of the overseas business activities of State-owned and State-controlled enterprises, step up audit, and improve the performance appraisal and accountability system for the overseas business of State-owned enterprises, so as to ensure the safety and effectiveness of State-owned capital, prevent the loss of State-owned assets, and guard against the misappropriation of State-owned assets under the disguise of "going global".
(49) Economic and trade security safeguards shall be developed. It is essential to accelerate export control legislation, quicken the construction and implementation of an export control system with scientific design, orderly operation and effective execution, improve the institutions and mechanisms for export control licensing and investigation and law enforcement, and actively participate in the formulation of multilateral export control rules; and, further strengthen and improve the industrial security early warning mechanism.
(50) The financial risk prevention and control framework shall be beefed up. It is crucial to place equal emphasis on facilitation and risk prevention, form cross-border financial regulation systems suitable for the needs of liberalization, improve external debt and capital flow management systems under the macro-prudent management framework, perfect the mechanisms for systematic risk monitoring and early warning, assessment and disposal, and market stabilization, step up the monitoring of short-term speculative capital flows and cross-border financial derivatives trading, and guard against and defuse financial risks; innovate in the models for using international preferential loans, make good use of international commercial loans, and promote the diversification of the forms of external debts; improve the financial regulatory system for "going global"; and, strengthen the construction of international exchange and cooperation mechanisms for financial regulation, guard against crises, and maintain regional financial stability.
All regions and departments shall, from the strategic height and with the overall picture in mind, have a profound appreciation of the significance of building a new system of open economy, unify their thinking and actions to the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, adapt to the requirements on building a new system of open economy, strengthen the Party's leadership, assign work responsibilities to specific parties concerned, improve work mechanisms, and make meticulous efforts of organization and implementation. They shall also step up the research of strategic issues of liberalization, innovate in work approaches, promptly summarize experiences, earnestly study and resolve the new situations and problems encountered in building a new system of open economy, and constantly create new fronts for high-level liberalization.