BEIJING: China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) have unveiled the 2025 version of the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment, woutlining key measures to attract and use foreign capital with greater efforts. The move signals China’s commitment to expanding high-level opening-up and could help support market expectations and confidence, according to the commission.
The catalogue, which will be effective from February 1, 2026, represents an important policy for promoting foreign investment in China. Additionally, it is also a key policy document for guiding foreign investment in specific industries and regions, the NDRC noted.
The introduction of the new catalogue aims to implement the Chinese government’s decisions and plans to stabilize foreign investment and guide more foreign investment toward advanced manufacturing, modern services, high-tech, energy conservation and environmental protection, as well as the central and western regions and the northeastern region, it said.
Chinese economists said the move underscores the continuity of China’s opening-up policy and its confidence in economic growth. By advancing industrial upgrading and more balanced regional development, the policy sends a clear signal that foreign companies are encouraged to integrate more deeply into China’s unified market and share its growth opportunities amid global uncertainty.
The update marks the first revision of the catalogue in three years, with expansions and systematic optimization made in response to changes in both domestic and international conditions. The NDRC said in a statement that it will help strengthen guidance and incentives for foreign investment, boost market expectations and confidence, and support efforts to foster a new development paradigm and high-quality economic development. Compared with the 2022 version, the new catalogue records a net increase of 205 items and includes 303 revisions. The national catalogue adds 100 items, while the regional catalogue covering the central and western regions and other areas adds 105 items.
In a statement responding to media queries on Wednesday, the NDRC said the revised catalogue places greater emphasis on guiding foreign investment toward advanced manufacturing, with new or expanded items added in areas covering end products, components and raw materials to help upgrade industrial and supply chains. The catalogue also strengthens support for foreign investment in modern services.
New or expanded entries include business services, technical services, scientific research and service consumption, all aimed at promoting high-quality development of the service sector. It further encourages foreign investment in central and western regions, Northeast China and South China’s Hainan Province.
“The revision underscores China’s commitment to high-quality opening-up and policy continuity, while also responding to new demands linked to developing new quality productive forces and promoting more balanced regional development, including by steering foreign investment toward advanced manufacturing and the central and western regions,” said Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies under the University of International Business and Economics.
Li told the Global Times on Wednesday that this reflects China’s confidence and openness in its manufacturing sector, where market access for foreign investors has largely shifted to a “negative list” approach, and that the catalogue’s guidance will help optimize the domestic industrial layout, strengthen industrial chains and further integrate China into the global economy.
Su Jian, a professor at Peking University’s School of Economics and director of its National Center for Economic Research, said that encouraging foreign investment in the central and western regions, Northeast China and Hainan is closely linked to advancing common prosperity, as greater foreign participation can help ease regional imbalances and narrow development gaps.
Su also noted the significance of listing Hainan separately. “It highlights China’s determination to use the free trade port as a pilot platform to push higher-level opening-up, following the launch of island-wide special customs operations,” Su told the Global Times.
Concrete actions
According to a MOFCOM statement, industries listed in the encouraged catalogue are eligible for a range of preferential policies. These include tariff exemptions on imported equipment for self-use, priority access to industrial land with lower upfront costs, a reduced 15 percent corporate income tax rate for investments in western China and Hainan, and tax incentives for overseas investors who reinvest profits in encouraged industries in China, provided relevant conditions are met.
To ensure the catalogue is effectively implemented, the ministry said it will step up policy communication and interpretation through measures such as roundtable meetings with foreign-invested enterprises, improve supporting measures to ensure eligible companies can fully access the benefits, and strengthen service guarantees by using existing coordination mechanisms to help resolve issues foreign investors may encounter during implementation.
Looking ahead, the NDRC said it will take multiple steps to create a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment for foreign investors, enabling more multinational companies to share in China’s development opportunities.
Measures include expanding foreign investment through fast-track channels for major projects, accelerating the rollout of new large-scale foreign-invested projects, addressing difficulties faced by foreign firms during investment and operations through multiple channels, and organizing international industrial investment matchmaking activities to facilitate project negotiations and signings. –The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
