China Expected to Open Market Wider
South Korean companies need to increase their investment in China as the Chinese market is expected to be further opened to foreign investors once U.S.-China trade negotiations are eventually concluded, a China expert asserted in a seminar on June 12.
“South Korea’s investment in China is in a mature stage now, yet China is still a very important market for South Korea and, as such, more business in China can be a way of survival for them,” said Yang Pyeong-sup, head of the Center for Regional Economic Studies of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
He was speaking at a seminar on investment in China held at the Federation of Korean Industries Head Office Building located in Seoul.
Yang said, “Although the ongoing trade war between the United States and China has deteriorated conditions related to investment in China, it will change the investment environments in the end by providing more opportunities for cooperation in new industries and improving the conditions in the form of better intellectual property right protection.”
“At present, the Chinese government’s basic economic policies include an internal reform based on opening, which means China will be more opened with time,” he went on to say, continuing, “Still, the trade war developing into a technology war and a currency war must be blocked as that will add to the uncertainties of the bilateral relations between South Korea and China.”
At the seminar, participants expected that the Foreign Investment Act revision currently underway in China will have a positive effect on foreign investment. The new Foreign Investment Act, which is scheduled to take effect in 2020, is to allow a wider range of foreign investment and accelerate market opening.