Henan vows to further open auto, aircraft sectors to foreign investors

Central China’s Henan Province, the country’s fifth-biggest province by economic output, has pledged to open up its markets further to foreign investors, easing investment curbs on its automobile and aircraft industries and loosening rules on employment of foreigners.

The province – home to 94 million people – is well-known for its growing manufacturing sector with nearly half of Apple’s iPhones manufactured at a plant in its capital of Zhengzhou by Foxconn.

Henan’s provincial government said it will lift a shareholding cap on foreign investment in the automobile manufacturing sector, as well as caps on the number of partners in joint ventures with original equipment manufacturers, state news agency Shanghai Securities News reported on Tuesday.

The government of Henan, a major logistics hub in the country, also said it will work to attract foreign companies to set up joint ventures in areas such as passenger and cargo airlines.

Henan will also scrap a rule controlling the number of foreign technicians in foreign-invested firms in construction and engineering design.

The move follows central government guidance earlier this year to introduce a new foreign investment negative list that sets out industries where foreign investment is limited or prohibited, easing foreign investment curbs on sectors including banking, the automotive and heavy industries.

In June, China released a new negative list that expands market access for foreign investors in sectors including the financial, automobile and services industries, according to a statement on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission.