by XIN Yuan

China's commerce ministry has pledged to further open the services sector and ensure equal treatment for foreign companies, as senior officials met with more than 30 multinationals on the sidelines of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) this week.

Vice-Minister of Commerce LING Ji, who also serves as deputy international trade representative, told executives from Alfa Laval, ArcelorMittal, Merck and Intel that Beijing will keep aligning with high-standard global trade rules and widen access in key service industries.

Ling said China would continue to advance major foreign-invested projects, give overseas firms equal opportunities in government procurement, and strengthen intellectual property protection. He noted that a fair, transparent and law-based market was a scarce global resource and that China would remain committed to a high level of opening-up.

According to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), 48,921 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China in the first nine months of 2025, up 16.2% from a year earlier. FDI in actual use reached 5.73 trillion yuan (about US$800 billion) during the period.

The roundtable came two weeks after Commerce Minister WANG Wentao said China would move "as early and as fast as possible" to lower market-entry barriers under the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030), which sets the country's economic and social priorities for the next five years.

Wang told a government briefing that the next stage of opening-up would target value-added telecoms, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, while pilot liberalization in education and culture would also be expanded.

Wang has met a series of multinational executives in recent weeks in a show of support for foreign investors. On Oct 16, he told Apple CEO Tim Cook that China would continue to improve its business environment and share growth opportunities with global partners. Five days later, he met Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, pledging to help resolve the company's local challenges and safeguard supply-chain stability.

LUO Zhiheng, chief economist at Yuekai Securities, said China's next phase of opening-up would focus not only on attracting new investment but also on helping existing investors expand and succeed.

He added that beyond further shortening the negative list, the priority was to ensure full national treatment and a transparent, stable and predictable regulatory environment so that foreign firms can compete on equal terms in licensing, bidding and government procurement.