China will make foreign investment easier, vice premier tells foreign executives

BEIJING — Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with global financial executives Wednesday and pledged to make it easier for foreign institutions to invest in the country, state media said.

The executives are part of the Chinese securities regulator’s international advisory committee. Vice Premier He is also director of the office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs.

The meeting comes as foreign investors have largely taken a wait-and-see approach to China amid uncertainty about the country’s economic trajectory and tensions with the U.S.

The MSCI China stock index fell by 11% in 2023. It marked a third-straight year of annual declines, the first such losing streak in the last 20 years, according to Goldman Sachs.

“China will continue to deepen the reform and two-way opening-up of its capital market, facilitate cross-border investment and financing, and attract more foreign financial institutions and long-term capital to China,” He reportedly said at the meeting, according to state news agency Xinhua.

China has gradually allowed foreign financial institutions to take majority control of their local operations. Last year, the securities regulator also implemented new rules to clarify the process for domestic companies to list overseas.

Separately, President Emeritus of Harvard University Lawrence Summers met with People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng on Wednesday, according to a news release on the central bank’s website.

Summers, formerly a U.S. Treasury Secretary, hosted a lecture on the global economy and stagflation, the PBOC said.

On Monday, Summers met with Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining, according to a government announcement.

Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In-person meetings between Chinese officials and U.S. officials, executives and academics have picked up since China ended Covid-19 travel restrictions more than a year ago.

China’s Premier Li Qiang is set to speak Tuesday at the World Economic Forum’s annual summit in Davos, Switzerland.