©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Chinese Premier Li Qiang and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna (not pictured) attend a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, November 24, 2023. Jade Gao/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will carefully study issues related to market access and cross-border data flows and soon issue new regulations in these areas, Premier Li Qiang told an audience of global CEOs and Chinese politicians on Sunday .
“We warmly welcome companies from all countries to invest in China and strengthen their presence in China,” Li said.
China is also pushing to develop emerging industries such as biomanufacturing and will step up the development of artificial intelligence and the data economy, Li said at the China Development Forum in Beijing.
Beijing relaxed some rules on foreign investment on Tuesday, after investment inflows shrank by nearly 20% in the January-February period. China’s cyberspace regulator on Friday relaxed some security rules on data exports that had worried foreign companies in China.
China’s inflation rate and central government debt burden are relatively low, leaving room for further macro policy measures, Li said at the two-day forum. He highlighted measures China took last year to defuse property and debt risks, which he said were effective.
Li cited 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) in previously announced ultra-long-term special Treasury bonds, which he said will spur investment and stabilize economic growth.
China’s $18 trillion economy, the world’s second largest, is facing challenges such as a real estate crisis, local government debt problems, industrial overcapacity, deflationary risks and cooling foreign investment.
Organized annually by Beijing since 2000, the high-level forum offers global CEOs and Chinese politicians the opportunity to discuss foreign investment. Regular attendees include Apple (NASDAQ:) CEO Tim Cook and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio.
Li does not intend to hold a meeting with visiting foreign CEOs at this year’s forum, Reuters reported last week. But the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that President Xi Jinping plans to meet with a group of U.S. business leaders on Wednesday after the conference, a sign that Beijing still wants to court American companies amid rising foreign capital outflows.
Foreign companies have soured on China after it abandoned its tough anti-COVID restrictions in late 2022, citing concerns about the business environment, economic recovery and politics.
A new action plan to arrest the slowdown in foreign investment aims to create a level playing field for foreign businesses, remove curbs on foreign entry into the country’s sprawling manufacturing industry and promote the expansion of sectors such as telecommunications and healthcare.
Although the economy started the year on solid footing, analysts described Li’s annual growth target of around 5% as “ambitious” given the housing crisis and tepid household consumption due to slow income growth and uncertainty in the labor market.
($1 = 7.2293 renminbi)