China sharpens sales pitch for overseas investment with new list of sought-after sectors

China is taking steps to reshape the direction of its foreign investment, unveiling a revised catalogue of encouraged industries that steers overseas capital towards the advanced and technologically complex sectors Beijing’s policymakers view as future growth drivers.\nThe revised catalogue, which takes effect in February 2026, covers 1,679 industries – 205 more than the current version, which was released in 2022.\nIn a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Commerce said the changes are aimed at “strengthening China’s appeal to foreign investors, improving support services for foreign-funded firms and creating a more transparent, stable and predictable business environment”.\nThe revised catalogue widens the scope of incentives for overseas investment in advanced manufacturing, adding new fields to its coverage umbrella. Among others, these include nucleic acid drugs, high-end medical equipment, intelligent testing instruments, smart energy systems and deep-sea robots.\nYuan Qian, a lead researcher at the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, was quoted by state broadcaster CCTV as saying the catalogue is a core policy tool for promoting foreign investment and optimising the country’s industrial mix.\nHe said the catalogue helps China “better counter an adverse external environment by offsetting external uncertainty with the certainty of its own development, while providing global investors with clear, stable and transparent investment expectations”.\nGreater emphasis has also been placed on modern services, with high-end shipping, virtual power plants, pet healthcare, sports tourism, camping, homestays, property services, internet-enabled healthcare and other sectors added to the catalogue.\n\n\nAt the same time, the revision sets up avenues for more foreign inflows in certain regions, adding sectors like cruise tourism, ice-and-snow equipment, marine ecological restoration, computing infrastructure and renewable energy projects. These fields, and others new to the catalogue, are concentrated in central China, as well as the country's west and northeast.\nThe revised catalogue is being published amid a campaign by Beijing to coax back foreign investment, as the massive inflows that once aided China's growth and development have slowed considerably in recent years.\nIn 2024, the world’s second-largest economy attracted 826.2 billion yuan (US$116.2 billion) of foreign investment, down 27.1 per cent year on year and dropping 32.9 per cent from the peak of 1.23 trillion yuan recorded in 2022.\nThe slide has continued this year. China’s total foreign investment over the first 11 months of 2025 reached 693.2 billion yuan, down 7.5 per cent compared with the same period last year.\nTo implement the new edition of the catalogue, the commerce ministry said it will step up policy communication, refine supporting measures and strengthen service guarantees to ensure foreign firms fully benefit from the revised framework.\nIn its statement, the ministry said it would “proactively coordinate and resolve difficulties and issues faced by foreign-invested enterprises during policy implementation.”\nForeign-invested projects listed in the catalogue are eligible for major policy incentives, the ministry said, including tariff exemptions on equipment imported specifically for project use, preferential treatment in land supply and discounted land prices for intensive industrial projects.\nThey will also have access to a reduced 15 per cent corporate income tax rate in the country's western regions, as well as the southern island province of Hainan; additionally, tax credits will be available for overseas investors who reinvest distributed profits into encouraged sectors.\n