Like many other countries before it, the People's Republic of China renewed and tightened its foreign investment review system in December 2020. In addition to the investment review procedure, however, China also has a system in the form of "negative lists" that makes it possible to restrict or prohibit foreign investments independently of transactions and at a much earlier stage. Unlike the investment review process, however, these negative lists have steadily resulted in new relaxations for foreign investment in recent years. 

In another part of the video series China In & Out, our expert Kai Schlender explains what is behind these "negative lists".