SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 10: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (R) greets Vice President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) He Lifeng at the start of a bilateral meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on November 10, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Secretary Yellen and Vice Premier Lifeng will meet ahead of the APEC summit in San Francisco. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
BEIJING – Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with global financial executives on Wednesday and pledged to make it easier for foreign institutions to invest in the country, state media reported.
The executives are part of the international advisory board of China’s securities regulator. Deputy Prime Minister He is also the director of the office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs.
The meeting comes as foreign investors have largely taken a wait-and-see approach to China amid uncertainty over the country’s economic trajectory and tensions with the US.
The MSCI China stock index fell 11% in 2023. It marked the third straight year of annual declines, the first losing streak in 20 years, according to Goldman Sachs.
“China will continue to deepen reforms and two-way opening of its capital market, facilitate cross-border investment and financing, and attract more foreign financial institutions and long-term capital to China,” he reportedly said at the meeting. according to the state news agency Xinhua.
China has gradually allowed foreign financial institutions to take majority control of their local operations. The securities regulator also introduced new rules last year to clarify the process for domestic companies to list overseas.
Separately, Harvard University President Emeritus Lawrence Summers met with People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng on Wednesday, according to a press release on the central bank’s website.
Summers, a former US Treasury secretary, gave a talk on the global economy and stagflation, the PBOC said.
On Monday, Summers met with Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining, according to a government announcement.
Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Face-to-face meetings between Chinese officials and US officials, executives and academics have increased since China lifted its Covid-19 travel restrictions more than a year ago.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang is set to speak at the World Economic Forum’s annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday.