What opportunities does China''s Five-Year Plan bring to global investors?
DATE:2015-11-24 SOURCE:Xinhua News Agency
Photo taken with a drone on May 22, 2015 shows a bullet train runs past power transmission projects in northwest China''s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua)
BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- At the recent G20 Summit and APEC Economic Leaders'' Meeting, President Xi Jinping expounded China''s development blueprint for the next five years, reaffirming China''s commitment to innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.
"China has the resolve, confidence and ability to realize sustained and healthy economic development and bring more opportunities and benefits to the Asia-Pacific region," Xi told leaders attending the APEC meeting on Thursday.
What exact opportunities does China''s 13th Five-Year Plan bring to global investors? Following is some knowledge you should know.
HIGHER LEVEL OF OPENNESS
The proposal to the 13th Five-year Plan promises further opening-up in the service industry, including banking, insurance, securities and nursing homes, as well as the opening of the capital market wider to overseas investors.
According to the plan, China will make the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, convertible for capital accounts, and expand the investment quota for qualified foreign institutional investors.
China will also apply nationwide the "negative list" model , which is currently only adopted in the country''s four free trade zones in Shanghai and Tianjin, as well as Guangdong and Fujian provinces, respectively.
In Manila, Xi stressed that China will not change its friendly policy toward foreign investment, and China remains committed to providing better services for foreign investors. China will always keep its door open to the outside world, he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses the APEC CEO summit in Manila, the Philippines, Nov. 18, 2015. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)
WIN-WIN COOPERATION
Over the next five years, China will continue to promote the "Belt and Road" initiative through cooperation with countries and regions along the routes.
Official data showed that countries along the extensive Belt and Road invested a total of 6.12 billion U.S. dollars in China in the first three quarters of 2015, up 18.4 percent year on year, while China''s direct investment in these countries jumped 66.2 percent in the period.
China will continue to intensify cooperation with international financial institutions, participate in the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and New Development Bank, and leverage the Silk Road Fund.
At the APEC meeting, Xi noted the AIIB will serve as an important platform supporting regional connectivity. The bank is expected to be formally established by the end of this year, Xi said.
With an authorized capital of 100 billion U.S. dollars, the AIIB will invest in sectors including energy, transportation, urban construction and logistics as well as education and health care.
GREEN GROWTH
China aims to innovate and upgrade the energy system in the next five years to make it greener and more integrated with the Internet.
By the end of 2020, China aims to increase non-fossil energy to 15 percent of total primary energy consumption and raise the share of renewable energy in production.
China is also counting on new energy vehicles (NEVs) to address its air pollution problems.
Since September, NEV buyers can get license plates without having to apply through the usual lottery system. China will soon allow companies that do not make autos to produce NEVs, too.
NEV production tripled year on year to reach about 156,200 vehicles in the first nine months, while overall auto production in China declined.
INNOVATION
China is cultivating new drivers and edges for growth amid efforts to maintain a medium-high growth rate while stepping up industrial restructuring.
China has the world''s largest population of mobile Internet users, surpassing 875 million. The value of the market is expected to exceed 360 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2015.
The Chinese leadership has advocated an "Internet Plus" actions plan, which aims to make outmoded industries more efficient withthe help of the Internet.
The central government also stressed the role of technological innovation in creating future growth. In 2014, China spent 2.1 percent of its total GDP in research and development (R&D).
COORDINATED GROWTH
If concrete and effective actions are taken, China can lift 10 million people out of poverty every year from 2016 to 2020, according to the 13th Five-year Plan.
While the government promises more fiscal expenditure on poverty relief, private investment and community groups are also encouraged to join the battle.
China''s urbanization ratio, based on the number of registered residents, is expected to reach around 45 percent by 2020.
In China, the number of people who actually live in cities has already accounted for about 55 percent of the whole population, but a significant number of them, mostly migrant workers, are denied "hukou" (official residence permits) and barred from equal education, employment rights and social security services.
To make the migrant workers "real" urbanites is significant for the labor supply, consumption demand, stabilizing the property market and expanding urban infrastructure investment.