[photopress:property_NDRC_Ma_Kai.jpg,full,alignright]There is an air abroad that if you put money into any business in China you will make a lot of money. And that there is a sort of Divine Right of Investors to make that investment no matter whether it is appropriate or not.
It plainly it not going to continue. Now China’s economic planning agency has issued restrictions on foreign investment in real estate and other industries, part of a range of measures aimed at righting imbalances in the economy.
A lengthy list of revised rules that take effect December 1 imposes bans on foreign investment in some businesses such as golf courses, gambling, genetically modified crops, traditional teas, film production and weapons manufacturing. These, and other, are listed on the Web site of the National Development and Reform Commission.
This is not the first time brakes have been applied. Many of the restrictions match a list issued by the NDRC in 2004. The fact that they have to be reissued suggests that people were finding ways around the rules and possibly, just possibly, there was both jiggery and pokery involved.
State media reports have emphaizedthe limits on real estate investment, although apart from the ban on investment in golf courses and in real estate agencies, the list matches current regulations.
Foreign direct investment in China rose almost 11% in January-September over the year before to US$47.2 billion, the reports said. Of that total, foreign investment in property development accounted for US$5.7 billion. Our illustration shows Ma Kai, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission.