China to introduce more measures to facilitate foreign investment -- The Chinese government will roll out more measures to facilitate the delivery of major foreign-invested projects, lower tariffs on some imported goods and streamline customs clearance procedures at a faster pace, as was decided at the State Council executive meeting on September 26. The measures aim to expand opening-up and foster a fairer, more convenient and more enabling environment for foreign investment. It was decided that an online filing process will be introduced in regulating foreign investment in China. Unified market access criteria will be applied to both Chinese and foreign investment in areas outside of the negative list. Large-scale foreign investments eligible for major project development schemes will receive support on land and sea-use approval procedures and accelerated environmental impact assessment and their logistics costs will be reduced.
China to step up protection of endangered Chinese mergansers -- A project to strengthen the protection of Chinese mergansers, an endangered bird species commonly found in northeast China's Jilin Province, was launched on September 27. According to the project's managers, the province aims to increase the number of such bird to over 400 pairs in the Changbai Mountain area by 2030.
China releases five-year plan on rural vitalization strategy -- China has released a five-year plan on its rural vitalization strategy, the first of its kind, mapping out a number of major projects, programs and actions. The plan was released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council. The rural vitalization strategy is "a major historic task for securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and for fully building a modern socialist country," the plan said. The document outlines key tasks for the 2018-2022 period toward the strategy's overall goal of building rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity.
China to implement comprehensive budget performance evaluation -- China aims to build an all-round budget performance evaluation system in three to five years, according to a regulation released on September 25. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued a regulation about the decision to introduce the system, marking a key step to expanding the country's fiscal and taxation reform, and upgrading governance and budget management. Under the regulation, the budget performance evaluation will be more "comprehensive," covering revenue and expenditure of governments at all levels.
China's Shandong to improve business environment with quick approval -- East China's Shandong Province will shorten the government procedures for establishment of new enterprises to three working days before September 30, in an effort to improve its business environment. According to an implementation plan for the start-ups, Shandong will handle the new enterprises' procedures for business through the government service platform under the "single-window" model, meaning that the enterprises don’t have to submit relevant documents to different departments. Meanwhile, Shandong will also optimize the bank account opening process, simplify the tax-related matters handling process, and improve the corporate social insurance business process to help improve the efficiency for establishment of new enterprises.
China unveils measures to boost consumption -- China on September 20 unveiled measures to further tap the country's residential consumption potential. China aims to upgrade consumption to balance supply and demand, increase the residential consumption rate, build a safe consumption environment and strengthen market supervision, according to a guideline issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council. The guideline outlines specific measures to boost consumption, including fostering new consumption growth impetus, promoting the quality of service consumption and upgrading rural consumption. China should accelerate establishing a quality standard and consumption rating system and strengthen the establishment of the personal and enterprises' credit system in the consumption sector to build a safe and reliable consumption environment, the guideline says.
Shanghai rolls out plan to increase industrial tourism -- Shanghai released a plan on September 20 to make the municipality's numerous industrial sites more popular to tourists. The three-year plan aims to develop industrial tourism, including industrial sites with local characteristics. Shanghai is the birthplace of China's contemporary industry and a major modern industrial hub in the country. Local industrial tourist destinations will showcase the development of modern industries in Shanghai and in China at large. According to the plan, Shanghai aims to attract 15 million visitors to the city's industrial sites by 2020, two million more than 2017. The sites include industrial heritages as well as modern plants of the city's leading manufacturing companies. The city aims to upgrade several industrial sites and develop high-quality souvenirs for tourists.
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