(Yicai Global) Sept. 30 -- The Chinese government will soon release a new policy to encourage overseas funds to invest in the country’s manufacturing sector, an official from the country’s macro-economic planner said yesterday.

The ruling will attract more international funds to China, stabilize existing investments and help foreign investors improve the quality of their investment, Xia Qing, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission’s department of foreign capital and overseas investment, said at a press conference without going into further detail.

Other foreign-investment friendly policies include the likely expansion of the 2022 Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment to include more sectors and guiding foreign capital into the manufacturing, producer services and other key sectors as well as the midwest and northeast regions of the country. 

The NDRC will also launch its sixth batch of major foreign-funded projects, as well as continue to lift restrictions on overseas investment in fields not on the negative lists, enhance intellectual property protection and ensure foreign firms can enjoy the same policies as domestic firms, he said.

The previous five batches of major foreign-funded projects included carmaking joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive, US electric vehicle startup Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory, German chemicals giant BASF’s Huizhou plant, oil majors CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals’ project in Huizhou as well as South Korean Samsung Electronics’ flash memory chip plant in Xi’an.

The NDRC has formed special working teams to help foreign investors resolve any problems in the setting up and running of projects on its list.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor