(Yicai) July 12 -- China will ease foreign investment limits in areas including healthcare and tourism in six provincial capitals, as part of the latest round of opening-up in the services sector.

Effective immediately, foreign-backed businesses will be allowed to operate virtual private network services in Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, and Shenyang, but foreign ownership must not exceed 50 percent, according to a document released by the State Council yesterday.

The value-added telecom services in those five cities will no longer have restrictions on the foreign shareholding ratios, it added.

Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Shenyang will also be allowed to set up non-profit medical institutions through foreign joint ventures to provide basic medical and health services. Overseas investors are also being allowed to establish non-profit elderly care institutions in Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Chengdu, the document said.

In the tourism sector, eligible foreign-backed travel agencies can now operate in the outbound tourism field in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing and Shenyang.

Most of the limits on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector have already been lifted, and the service industry is now the main focus of opening-up. In December 2022, the State Council approved pilot programs in the six provincial capitals for further opening in the services industry, and the programs have been expanded since then.

In 2015, Beijing took the lead in launching pilot programs to open up the services sector. In 2021, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing, along with southern tourism hub Hainan province started their own pilot programs.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Tom Litting