China will further cut red tape to spur foreign investment -- China will further simplify procedures for setting up foreign-invested enterprises (FIE) to promote high-standard liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, the State Council decided at an executive meeting on May 16. It was decided at the meeting that a single form and one-stop services will be introduced for the business filing and business registration of foreign-invested enterprises. The whole process will be conducted online and free of charge, without the need for paper flows or presence in person. This practice, which will take effect from June 30, is expected to significantly shorten the time required for the FIE-related business processes. Real-time sharing and coordinated management of FIE-related information will be promoted among the banking, customs, taxation and foreign exchange authorities. Government inspection will also be strengthened to ensure that measures taken will be implemented in full.
China's ecology and environment ministry opens branch in Xiongan -- The Ministry of Ecology and Environment on May 16 set up its first branch in Xiongan New Area, north China's Hebei Province, since the establishment of the ministry in March. The Xiongan Ecology and Environment Bureau will mainly be responsible for environmental protection and pollution regulation, and improving water and air quality in Xiongan, another new area of "national significance" following the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Shanghai Pudong New Area. Strict law enforcement and technological innovation will be emphasized during the fight against pollution and eco-civilization construction, said the new bureau.
China to amend implementation regulations of foreign-funded insurers -- China is likely to revise the implementation regulations of the foreign-funded insurance companies soon in an effort to adapt to the new situation of its opening-up to the outside world, the Xinhua-run Shanghai Securities News reported on May 16. According to industry insiders, China is expected to raise the cap of the shareholding of the foreign capital in the joint venture insurance companies from the previous 50 percent to 51 percent, allowing the foreign capital to control or have a say in the companies. It will likely lower the threshold for the establishment of branches of the joint venture and wholly-owned foreign insurance companies. Relevant procedures will be simplified. In addition, China will clarify and regulate the behavior of foreign-funded insurance companies' equity changes, according to the report.
China likely to unveil new steel industry dev. guidelines before end of 2018 -- China is expected to release a new version of the steel industry development guidelines at the end of this year, the Xinhua-run Economic Information Daily reported on May 16. On the one hand, the overall economic structure has been adjusted. On the other hand, changes in crude steel production capacity have led to changes in the supply-demand situation. Therefore, it is imperative to study the future development direction of the steel industry in the new economic environment, according to industry insiders. With the further reduction of 30 million metric tons (tonnes) of crude steel production capacity this year, China's steel industry will complete the goal of reducing 100 million tonnes to 150 million tonnes proposed in the steel industry adjustment and upgrade plan (2016-2020), said Zhang Zhixiang, president of China Chamber of Commerce for Metallurgical Enterprises.
China’s MIIT signs agreement with Anhui Province to support intelligent voice industry -- China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) signed an agreement with east China’s Anhui Province to support its intelligent voice industry, according to the report by the Xinhua-run China Securities Journal. According to the agreement, the MIIT and Anhui Provincial People’s Government will jointly build the intelligent voice industry cluster base in Anhui’s capital city Hefei into a national highland in about five years. The agreement covers five aspects including joint promotion of artificial intelligence technology innovation, application, industry cluster development, world-class activity organization in intelligent voice. The MIIT specifies that it will support intelligent enterprises in Anhui to take part in national key projects.
China’s MIIT unveils plan to foster industrial Internet APP development -- China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has recently released a plan to foster the industrial Internet APP development in the period of 2018 to 2020, according to Li Guanyu, an official with the MIIT, at a seminar held in east China's Weihai city, quoted by Securities Times. Li said that development of new industrialization and informatization in China has been accelerating and the integration between the two has increased significantly. The role of software in manufacturing industry has become increasingly prominent and already become a driving force for economic and social transformation and development. The plan released by the ministry is to guide cooperation between software companies and industrial enterprises through market-oriented means to promote the development of specialized application software based on the cloud platform and industrial APP library, Li added.
Shanghai to further open up finance sector -- Shanghai on May 13 announced new measures to open wider its finance businesses, in a bid to develop itself into an international finance center. In the near future, the city will further open up banking, securities, and insurance sectors, according to the municipal finance authority. Foreign-funded banks will be encouraged to set up both branches and subsidiaries in Shanghai. The city will also support establishment of securities, fund, and futures companies with majority ownership by foreign capital. The scope of Shanghai-based foreign-funded insurance companies will be expanded. The financial market will open wider. For example, the city will support overseas investors to invest in its securities market and overseas innovative enterprises will be allowed to issue Chinese Depository Receipt in Shanghai. The practice of free trade accounts, which enable funds to move freely between the free trade zone (FTZ) and offshore entities, would be spread to pilot FTZs in the Yangtze River Delta region and the Yangtze River economic belt. The investment and financing function of those accounts would be expanded.
New information disclosure policy for China's insurers to take effect from July this year -- The new management measures for information disclosure of China's insurance companies will take effect from July this year, the Xinhua-run Shanghai Securities News reported on May 11. The new management measures unveiled by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission on May 10 require the insurance companies to disclose much richer information than the old version in 2010. Specifically, in the summary of corporate governance disclosed by the insurance company, the new management measures require the insurance company to have a brief description of the actual controller and its control over the company. Meanwhile, as for the disclosure of the main resolutions of the shareholders meetings in the past three years, the insurance company must offer details including time, place, attendance, major issues, and voting status of the meetings.
E. China’s Fuzhou releases measures to speed up digital economy development -- East China’s Fuzhou city has released measures to speed up the development of the digital economy. According to the local authorities, any key digital economy enterprise settling in Fuzhou or establishing a R&D center or a branch (subsidiary) in Fuzhou will be rewarded with 2 million yuan in a lump sum if its capital in place has reached or exceeded 50 million yuan. Meanwhile, any settled enterprise will be granted a subsidy of no more than 50 percent of the proportion of tax retained by municipal and county (district) governments annually in the first three years after it goes into operation. The measures also cover demonstrative projects in the fields including IOT, big data, cloud computing, AI and intelligent manufacturing. The first digital application project put to massive commercial use will be granted a maximum subsidy of 2 million yuan, accounting for 20 percent of the actual investment.
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