China announced a plan for a full opening-up of its manufacturing sector on Tuesday, which will start with the country's auto industry, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.
According to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the limits on the shareholdings of foreign investors in China's auto industry will be phased out over the next five years.
The share-holding limits on special-purpose vehicles and new energy vehicles will become the first to be lifted, which will happen this year.
The limits on commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles are expected to be removed in 2020 and 2022 respectively. What's more, foreign automakers will be allowed to establish more than two joint ventures from 2022.
Apart from the auto industry, the share-holding limits in China's shipbuilding industry will also be lifted this year, which will cover such shipbuilding processes as designing, manufacturing, and repairing.
The same policy will also be applied to the country's aircraft manufacturing industry, which will lead to the removal of the share-holding limits on a variety of aircraft including trunk and regional airliners, general-purpose airplanes, helicopters, drones, and aerostats.
The NDRC disclosed that the opening-up of China's manufacturing sector would be a key part of China's new negative list for foreign investments which is expected to come out by the end of June this year.
The negative list for foreign investments to be applied to China's free trade pilot zones will be different from the one to be implemented in other parts of the country.
Despite the difference, both lists will feature a range of new measures for the opening-up of the areas including energy, resources, infrastructure, transport, commercial circulation, and professional services, among others.
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