CBN丨Chinaissuesguidelineforbuildingu

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

Coming up on today’s program

• The NDRC urges local governments to increase cross-regional market connectivity;
• Chinese tech giants refute US “Section 1260H” list inclusion.

Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours

China’s state economic planner asked all local governments to act under the same standards to eliminate cross-regional restrictions in market entry, aiming to accelerate their integration into the unified national market and actively support its development.

The National Development and Reform Commission released a trial about “Guidelines for the Construction of a National Unified Market” in a briefing on Tuesday.

The move is part of the efforts to implement the key tasks outlined at the tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2024, which emphasized the importance of formulating a guideline for building a unified national market.

The guideline outlined key measures including unifying the underlying institutions and rules of the market, improving the high-standard market infrastructure connectivity, building a unified market for factors and resources, advancing the high-standard integration of goods and services markets, enhancing fair and unified regulation, and curbing unfair market competition and improper intervention.

Among the proposed measures, the NDRC urged all regional governments not to use administrative and criminal means to intervene in economic disputes and shall not carry out law enforcement or exercise jurisdiction outside of their administrations, which would violate the law.

The NDRC has also requested that local governments should not restrict the free flow of commodities and production factors across regions, and should not set unreasonable limitations to exclude, restrict or prohibit local business entities from supplying commodities and services to other regions.

The local governments should also refrain from strengthening the protection of local products or specific products in the form of targeted subsidies, local recommendation catalogs, etc., as well as restricting the entry of products from other areas into the local market.

The NDRC also proposed to accelerate the development of a unified capital market and to strengthen information sharing with capital market-related institutions and interconnection with bank credit information.

• Rescuers are braving freezing temperatures in combing through rubble in their search and rescue of survivors after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted a county in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning. Ninety-five people have been killed and 130 others injured as of 4 pm today. The Finance Ministry has allocated 100 million yuan to support rescue, relief and rebuilding work in quake-stricken areas.

Greater Bay Area, Greater future

• Hong Kong eased some requirements of its revived investor visa schemes to attract more millionaires, with measures effective from March 1. The government will allow the investment made by an applicant through a wholly-owned eligible private vehicle to be calculated into the amount of the required investment, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and Invest Hong Kong announced on Tuesday. Officially launched in March 2024, the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme raised the investment threshold to HKD30 million from HKD10 million before being suspended.
• Shenzhen Airport’s passenger throughput reached 20,400 people on Dec. 22, setting a new single-day record high since the full resumption of border crossings after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the city’s border inspection authorities yesterday. The passenger throughput at the airport doubled to a five-year high of 5.5 million last year from the previous one, ranking among China’s top airports.

Next on industry and company news

Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock market

• Chinese stocks rebounded on Tuesday after losing for four straight sessions. The benchmark Shanghai Composite added 0.7 percent and the Shenzhen Component jumped 1.1 percent. While Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed 1.35 percent lower and the TECH index dipped 0.9 percent.

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

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