China to keep door open to foreign investment

BEIJING: China will take steps to safeguard its interests, but won’t close its door to foreign investment and the global industry despite trade frictions with the United States, a Chinese official said.

Earlier this month, before key Sino-US trade talks, Washington decided to widen its so-called “entities list” to include some top Chinese artificial intelligence start-ups such as Megvii Technology and SenseTime Group.

Firms on the US “entity list” are barred from buying US parts and components without US government approval due to national security concerns.

“We will look at the trade friction between China and the United States with an open mind and a big heart,” said Huang Libin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), although China will also closely monitor the US entities list.

China will further open sectors including telecommunications, Internet and autos to foreign investment, but at the same time, the United States should respect trade rules and act with caution, Huang said.

“We will not blindly emphasise ‘self-developed and controllable’, and will not decouple from the development of international industries,” Huang told reporters at a briefing.

The trade war with the United States has prompted China to downplay its Made in China 2025 – the state-backed industrial policy aimed at catapulting China up the global technological value chain but is also core to Washington’s complaints about the country’s technological ambitions.

Under the Made in China 2025 banner, China was to upgrade its industrial base in 10 strategic sectors by 2025, including aerospace, robotics, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and new-energy vehicles.