Suggestions on Accelerating the Process of Forming New Pattern for Opening-up to Guide All-round Rejuvenation by Liaoning Provincial CPC Committee and Liaoning Provincial People's Government

 (Document No.: Liao Wei Fa (2018) No. 20)

This document is stipulated in order to deeply implement the principles put forward in the 19th CPC National Congress, further accelerate the opening-up process, help form a new pattern for all-round opening-up to better guide the cause of all-round rejuvenation of Liaoning.

I. Full acknowledgement of the fact that opening-up in all fields is the strategic option for the cause of all-round rejuvenation of Liaoning

1. Liaoning is facing significant opportunities of all-round opening-up in the new era. The 19^th CPC National Congress has put forward a series of new important ideas, strategies and measures on deepening reform and expanding opening-up, and has clarified the new requirements for promoting the formation of the new pattern for all-round opening-up. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council has also promulgated a series of policies and measures for the rejuvenation and development of Liaoning. The requirements of "four focuses and three promotions" proposed by President Xi Jinping have been closely related to the new philosophy of development, which has laid the foundation for Liaoning's rejuvenation and development, as well as the work of making all-out efforts to enforce strict party discipline in the province. It has also become the basic measure for the cause of building a moderately prosperous society with unprecedented glory in the province, and it has offered the solution to all controversies and problems concerning all affairs in the province. We shall seize the great opportunities of all-round opening-up in the new era as well as the great chance of celebrating the 40th anniversary of the policy of reform and opening-up, and furthermore, with the guidance of Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we shall establish a strong sense of grasping opportunities to assist Liaoning in the cause of forming new pattern of opening-up to achieve all-round rejuvenation.

2. The distinctive advantages and challenges for the all-round opening-up of Liaoning. As a coastal province adjacent to other countries, Liaoning is the only province having access to the sea in Northeastern China, one of the frontier areas for China to have connections with other parts of Northeast Asia and the Eurasian Continent, and one of the important "windows" for opening-up in North China, with distinctive geographical advantages for all-round opening-up; As the cradle and one of the important equipment industrial bases of New China, Liaoning has all kinds of industrial categories, with well-developed infrastructure of transportation, power supply, water conservancy, and telecommunications, etc., strong scientific and educational power, with incomparable industrial advantages for all-round opening-up. With all the above advantages, all people in Liaoning shall seize the opportunity to work together for further opening-up, driven by firm belief and great confidence. Meanwhile, we shall also bear in mind that Liaoning still faces lots of challenges in the aspect of opening-up, as well as problems such as lack of open-mindedness, inflexible mechanisms, limited coverage of relevant policies and measures, and low-level administrative abilities, etc. In present-day severe economic situation, Liaoning is sailing against strong torrents of water, already falling behind many other provinces in some aspects. We shall strive to solve problems with our previously accumulated experiences, and to think carefully and make plans in a scientific way to make our due contribution to the cause of Liaoning's rejuvenation, development and all-round opening-up.     

3. The all-round opening-up of Liaoning is the strategic choice for the cause of rejuvenation and development of the province. The next five years is the "energy rebuilding period" for the stable and healthy development of Liaoning's economy and society, the "foundation re-laying period" for Liaoning to narrow the developmental gap, keep in pace with other provinces, and achieve sustainable development, and the "advantage re-creating period" for Liaoning to accelerate the reform in quality, efficiency and stimulus. The formation of an all-round new pattern of opening-up is the significant practice for implementing the new developmental philosophy in the new era, the objective requirement for meeting people's increasing needs of a better life, and the active means for establishing a new economic mechanism of opening-up, which is the core of the cause of rejuvenation of Liaoning Province, as well as the inevitable course and strategic choice for the development of the province. We shall rely on the bordering ocean to the world, expand the scope of opening-up, deepen the levels of opening-up to solve the relevant problems. We shall promote the reform and development of the province by accelerating the pace of opening-up to boost the new round of all-round rejuvenation of the old industrial bases of Liaoning.

II. Making Clear of the Guiding Philosophy, Working Focus and Targets of the All-round Opening-up of Liaoning

4. Guiding philosophy: We shall fully implement the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress, and the 2nd and 3rd plenary sessions of the CPC central committee, with the guidance of the guidance of Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and steady promotion of all kinds of work. We shall also keep in mind the people-centered developmental strategy, implement the "five-in-one" and "four comprehensives" patterns in a coordinated way, put into practice the new developmental ideas of "four focal points" and "three promotions" continuously, with the main focus of serving the initiative of "the Belt and the Road", and the support of the development and opening-up of Liaoning Coastal Economic Belt. With the construction of the Northeast Asia international shipping center in Dalian, the Northeast Asia innovation center in Shenyang, the construction of pilot zones of high-level free trade and free trade seaports, and the construction of Shenyang-Fushun innovation and development demonstration zones as the driving force, we shall coordinately promote the construction of "one belt and five bases", implement the developmental strategies of five large areas, making mutual economic cooperation between the coastal and the inland areas to build the all-round new pattern for opening-up and to turn Liaoning into the important hub for opening-up towards Northeast Asia.

5. Working Focus. We shall take the construction of high-level service for the initiative of "the Belt and the Road" as the working focus of the cause of opening-up in the near future by promoting the construction of high-level opening-up platform, strengthening the relations among the countries along the Belt and the Road and the connections of the relevant industries, as well as the cooperation in opening-up and innovative power, the expansion of the fields for mutual investment to better develop key projects. We shall build comprehensive pilot zones for the initiative of "the Belt and the Road" and the "China-Central and Eastern Europe 16+1" international economic and trade cooperation demonstration zones to form the opening-up medium with wide coverage and deep cooperation, and strengthen the cooperative relations with the relevant departments of customs, inspection and quarantine, commercial logistics and e-commerce, etc. in the countries along the Belt and the Road to offer more freedom in the fields of trade and investment and to foster new economic growth points. We shall establish multilevel economic, social and cultural cooperative mechanisms with the countries along the Belt and the Road to realize political communication, infrastructure connection, and good flow of trade, capital and people. We shall expand our opening-up fields with more practical content by going out of the province, and take part positively in the development of the Economic Belt of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, as well as the Economic Belt of the Yangtze River Delta by building and strengthening the cooperative ties with Jiangsu, Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the cooperative mechanism within the four provinces and autonomous region in Northeast China in order to make practical achievements.

6. Targets. By the year of 2020, the level of outward-bound economy of Liaoning would be greatly improved, the economic dependence upon foreign trade would rise by 3%; Liaoning's total volume of import and export trade would account for a larger percentage in that of China, ranking among the top 8; The average annual growth rate of service trade would be higher than that of China, and it would account for an increasingly larger percentage in the overall volume of Liaoning's foreign trade. The average annual growth rate of the amount of actually utilized foreign investment and the amount of the introduction of capital from outside the province would be above 15%, and the amount of actually utilized foreign investment would be expected to reach 10 billion USD, and the amount of the introduction of capital from outside the province would be expected to reach 600 billion RMB yuan. By sending larger numbers of equipment, technologies and service into international markets, the level of enterprise investment in overseas would be further improved. By the year of 2022, Liaoning would have a well-developed new economic mechanism for opening-up, with a much optimized trade structure and a higher degree of foreign trade dependence; The industries of high-end equipment manufacturing and modern service would mainly use and investment from overseas or other provinces of China, with an overall foreign investment scale of 15 billion USD, and an overall amount of capital from other Chinese provinces of over 800 billion RMB yuan. The scale, quality and profits of foreign investment would be greatly improved, and the level of the overall opening-up of Liaoning would be among the top in China.

III. Making Great Efforts to Break up the System and Mechanism-Related Obstacles in the Course of All-round Opening-up  

7. Fully implement the developmental philosophy of opening-up. We shall make solving problems as our top priority by further emancipate our mind, deepen the degree of opening-up and expand the scope of opening-up to let the cause of opening-up promote the reforming process of system and mechanism, to offer good mechanism guarantee for high-quality development, to provide new driving forces for development and to accelerate the building process of a new mechanism for opening-up type economy. Innovation shall be driven by the force of expanding the scope of opening-up to boost the reform in quality, efficiency and power, which is also able to accelerate the construction of a modernized economic mechanism, with the aim of realizing the rebuilding of dynamic power, the reconstruction of foundation and the re-creation of advantages, as well as promoting the "leapfrog development" of Liaoning.   

8. Giving full play to the decisive role of market in the distribution of resources. We shall adhere to the direction of socialist market-oriented economic reform, giving full play to the decisive role of market in the distribution of resources, guiding all relevant elements to flow in order and distributing all resources in an efficient way. We shall establish a modernized market-oriented economic mechanism by building connections with international and domestic markets, with internal vitality, as well as orderly and fair competition environment. We shall deepen the reform of state-owned enterprises, develop mixed-ownership economy, stimulate the vitality of all market types, and cultivate modern outward-bound enterprises with global competitiveness. We shall also follow the requirements made by the central government on accelerating the construction of new mechanism of opening-up economy for mutual promotion of opening-up towards other parts of China and the world, combination of "letting-in" and "going-out", and the construction of a highly-developed province in economy.    

9. Accelerating the process of government streamlining and administrative power devolution. With the aim of cultivating new marketing mechanism and vitalizing market subject, and the focus of changing governmental functions, rationalizing the relationship between the upper and lower administrative organs, we shall further accelerate the process of government streamlining and administrative power devolution, deepen the relevant reform of administrative rights and services, establish the management mechanism with reasonable labor division, high-level efficiency and vitality, and the unification of rights and obligations to further improve the administrative efficiency of all-level governments. Under the premise of abiding by the relevant laws and regulations, we shall create new forms and expanding the scope of devolving administrative power as much as possible to ensure every step of the process going smoothly, in order and under control.   

IV. Promoting All-round Opening-up in Five Major Areas in a Coordinated Way

10. We shall give full play to the great leading and influencing role of Liaoning Coastal Economic Belt and Shenyang Economic Zone. By taking the all-round opening-up of Liaoning Coastal Economic Belt as the focus, we shall deepen the economic cooperation in Northeastern Asia to improve the level of opening-up of Liaoning Province and Northeastern China. We shall turn the Northeast Asia international shipping center in Dalian into one of the most significant hub for Liaoning's opening-up towards Northeast Asia and the most important base for opening-up in North China. We shall accelerate the construction of "port economic circle" for serving Liaoning, and influencing Northeastern China as well as Northeast Asia. By the end of 2018, Liaoning Port Group would be established by combining the port resources of the six coastal port cities in Liaoning. We shall make full use of this opportunity to develop port economy, ocean-oriented economy, port industrial clusters and ecological industrial zones and to implement the integrated development of ports, industries and cities. We shall boost the opening-up process in areas bordering the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea to help the cities of Dandong, Jinzhou, Yingkou, Panjin and Huludao develop further. By the year of 2020, Liaoning Coastal Economic Belt would become the leading area for the optimization of industrial structures in the old industrial bases of Northeastern China and one of the frontier areas of economic and social development in China.

We shall improve the level of outward-bound opening-up of Shenyang Economic Zone by accelerating the construction process of Northeast Asia innovation center in Shenyang, promoting Shenyang's building work of the national-level demonstration area of "Made in China 2025" and supporting the construction of China-Germany (Shenyang) High-end Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park. The breakthrough in the important fields and the key parts of Shenyang Economic Zone shall be guided by high-level outward-bound opening-up by means of highlighting the role of innovative promotion, boosting the industrial transformation and upgrade, and building industrial clusters with the output scale of over 100 billion RMB yuan. We shall also accelerate the reform of state-owned enterprises, reorganization of economic structures and industrial transformation and upgrade, as well as boosting the unified development of cities, surrounding towns and the relevant industrial parks. By the year of 2020, Shenyang Economic Zone would become a metropolitan area and a new-type industrialized demonstration zone with relatively high-level competitive edge.   

11. Establishing an opening-up innovation demonstration zone in Shenfu New Area. We shall establish a national-level innovative development demonstration zone by improving the relevant systems and mechanisms, creating new developmental modes and investment introducing means, and developing many distinctive industries relating to big data, big health and artificial intelligence, with the development of five main industrial clusters as the main task. We shall build high-quality industrial parks for enterprises from China, Japan and South Korea and an outward-bound economic cooperation demonstration zone of Northeast Asia by boosting the process of opening-up further, stimulating the innovative vitality of Shenfu New Area in order to create a new growth pole for the cause of rejuvenation and development of Liaoning and make Liaoning and Northeastern China a greatly influential area across China and the world.

12. Remedying the deficiencies in the county-level economy and the opening-up process of the area of Northwestern Liaoning. We shall give full play to all advantages of county-level administrative divisions and the area of Northwestern Liaoning in the aspect of resources, actively join in the development plan in the area of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, expand the scope and scale of investment invitation, introduce a series of leading and trading-type major projects, promote the transformation and upgrade of traditional industries, strengthen the construction of ecological environment, and build a series of bases of manufacturing of distinctive products and export of agricultural products. We shall put great emphasis on the development of cross-border e-commerce in rural areas, and pay special attention to the cultivation of cross-border platform for e-commerce and the relevant service enterprises to create online marketing channels comprising of markets of agricultural products, peasant cooperatives, and family farms. We shall also actively guide the surplus poor labor forces living in county-level administrative divisions and in Northwestern Liaoning to work in other provinces or countries, helping them alleviate poverty in this way.       

V. Optimizing and Improving the Medium and Support of All-round Opening-up

13. Constructing a giant hub for opening-up. We shall accelerate the construction process of Northeast Asia international shipping center in Dalian, and build a well-developed infrastructure system, a comprehensive transportation system and a shipping service system to construct an international shipping hub able to serve Liaoning, and Northeast China, and influence the area of Northeast Asia. We shall also improve the comprehensive service systems of all ports, conduct cross-department and cross-area cooperation on port customs clearance, establish an electronic network data exchange platform and offer "one-stop service" for handling affairs concerning international trade, with the combination of all port information resources of all types to build a modernized service system and port for international shipping center, with multiple functions of commerce and logistics, finance and insurance, information and counseling, customs clearance, shipping agency, sea transportation clearing and insurance, logistical recharge, and maritime support, etc.      

14. Constructing a giant platform of opening-up. We shall establish a "the Belt and the Road" comprehensive pilot zone of Liaoning and "China-Middle and Eastern Europe 16+1" economic and trade cooperation demonstration zone, create a new high-level platform for opening-up to become a symbolic brand for the cause of all-round opening-up of Liaoning; We shall accelerate the pace of opening-up in Shenyang's Shenfu New Area and Dalian's Jinpu New Area to become a guiding zone for the opening-up cooperation in Northeast Asia, and a demonstrative zone leading the innovation and transformation of the old industrial bases in Northeastern China; We shall meticulously organize the Summer Davos Forum in Dalian, as well as other significant international-level expositions such as Shenyang's China International Equipment Manufacturing Exposition and Dalian's International Software & Information Service Fair to expand the scale of economic, social and cultural communications with other parts of China and the world; We shall give full play to the role of the eight customs special supervision areas and bonded logistic centers such as Dalian Bonded Area and Dalian Bonded Port, etc., in accumulating elements and influencing other areas to enhance their competitiveness in foreign trade; We shall encourage provincial-level or above industrial parks such as economy and technology development zones, as well as hi-tech zones to reorganize their management mechanisms, and improve their developmental plans to enhance the level of quality and efficiency, as well as upgrade the new strategic industries and raise the clustering degree of the relevant advantageous industries. We shall focus on building 100 provincial-level or above industrial parks and make them become the significant medium for the cause of opening-up of the province. By the year of 2020, a “2+2+3+8+100” system of Liaoning's opening-up platform, led by "the Belt and the Road" comprehensive pilot zone of Liaoning and "China-Middle and Eastern Europe 16+1" economic and trade cooperation demonstration zone, guided by the two innovative demonstration new areas, and supported by the three international-level fairs and the eight customs special supervision areas, with the medium of 100 provincial-level or above industrial parks, would be fully established.    

15. Building giant opening-up channels. We shall boost the construction of international transportation channels of "Liaoning-Europe via Manzhouli", "Liaoning-Europe via Mongolia", and "Liaoning-Europe by sea", and enhance the influential power of the freight trains between China and Europe to construct a multi-form international logistic system with high-level opening-up degree towards the area of Northeast Asia. We shall accelerate the construction of the channel connecting Liaoning, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang in order to create a new way for enterprises in Liaoning to enter the economic belt along the old Silk Road. We shall further develop the economic and trading connections between Liaoning and the countries along "the Belt and the Road", and actively participate in the construction of economic corridors of the initiative of "the Belt and the Road" such as China-Mongolia-Russia, China-Pakistan, and China-Central Asia-West Asia, etc. We shall take the opportunity of the construction of the economic corridor of "China-Mongolia-Russia" to promote the construction of the project of the eastern railway corridor of "China-Mongolia-Russia" in order to form a new and convenient international channel connecting the ports in Liaoning with the Eastern Mongolia Railway and Trans-Siberian Railway. We shall also put great emphasis on the construction of international-level airports in Shenyang and Dalian and increase the number of international air routes to fully develop the domestic and international air networks, opening the convenient opening-up channels by air.     

16. Creating a new highland for the cause of opening-up. We shall build a high-level pilot free trade areas in Liaoning to create more mechanism-related innovative achievements with distinctive local features and to fully implement them across the province. We shall accelerate the application work of the reform experiences of the pilot free trade areas in Shanghai and other cities to guarantee the work be completed by the end of 2018. We shall also accelerate the fulfilling process of the 123 reform pilot tasks in "the Overall Plan for China (Liaoning) Pilot Free Trade Area", with the aim of completing above 90% of the tasks by the end of 2018, and finishing all phrasal pilot works by the end of 2020. With the national-level distinctive pilot tasks of Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Area as the focus, we shall actively conduct experiments in the aspects of accelerating the reorganization work of the structure of the old industrial bases, deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises and capital, boosting industrial transformation and upgrade and expanding the scale and scope of opening-up towards Northeast Asia, etc., and creating the original distinctive experiences of Liaoning to promote the rejuvenation of the old industrial bases in Northeastern China. We shall give full play to the role of overflow effect of pilot free trade areas to boost the joint development of the area with the 18 key industrial parks in Liaoning. We shall accelerate the construction process of the free trade port in Dalian to form the system and mechanism meeting the requirements of customs supervision modes of the area outside the customs yet within the national boundaries for free trade ports, with the aim of building a high-standard and intelligent free trade port with highly free investment and trade, transparent opening-up rules, fair and efficient management, and convenient business-operating environment throughout three to five years of reform, to create a new highland for the cause of opening-up in the old industrial bases of Northeastern China.

VI. Constructing an Opening-up-Oriented Modern Industrial System

17. Promoting the reorganization of the industrial structure by accelerating the process of opening-up. We shall adhere to the main line of the structural supply-side reform to expand the scale of opening-up for traditional industries and to put great emphasis on the problems of the predominant position and the unitary industrial structure of heavy chemical industries. We shall focus on the development of highly advanced equipment manufacturing industries with boosting further opening-up process, and strengthen international cooperation by joining in the project of Germany's Industry 4.0 and implementing the "Guidelines for Liaoning in the Project of "Made in China 2025" to find new driving force for further development. We shall introduce large amounts of capital, technologies and many advanced management modes home and abroad, improve the property right systems and the market-oriented element distribution,  cultivate a series of enterprise groups with high international competitiveness and industrial influence, stimulate the internal vitality, marketing competitiveness and leading developmental power of state-owned enterprises, and offer assistance to a series of opening-up-oriented well-developed private enterprises to boost great improvement and development of all industries in Liaoning with the power of opening-up.

18. Accelerating the pace of opening-up in modern service industry. We shall expand the scale of opening-up in financial industries as well as the markets of bank card settlement and other aspects in order, relax or cancel the restrictions on the ratio of foreign capital and shareholdings in enterprises of banking, securities, fund management, futures and financial capital management, etc., and make a unified market access standard for both domestic and foreign banks. We shall take the opportunity of China's policies for further opening the domestic financial markets to apply for more reform pilot areas to attract more good-quality foreign-invested financial institutions to establish branches in Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Area, actively promote more good-quality foreign-invested financial institutions to buy shares of local financial institutions in Liaoning to increase their financial powers, improve the levels of operation and management, and enhance our core competitiveness. We shall make explorations to establish a financial cooperation mechanism between Liaoning and the countries along "the Belt and the Road" to support various kinds of financial institutions to actively participate in the plans for enterprises in Liaoning on international-level cooperation of the initiative of "the Belt and the Road". We shall strengthen international-level cooperation on science and technology, introduce more key scientific and technological research institution from abroad, pay special attention to the work of coordination and innovation in the relevant aspects, and make plans and construct a series of bases and centers for scientific and technological cooperation as well as technical transfer, depended on the national-level self-innovation demonstration zones in Shenyang and Dalian. We shall strengthen international-level cooperation on education. With the construction of first-class universities and disciplines as the focus, we shall conduct cooperative high-level talent cultivation, and increase the number of foreign students to create the brand of "studying in Liaoning". We shall promote the opening-up and cooperation in the cultural field by fully using the cooperative mechanism of building friendly ties with foreign provinces, prefectures and cities, strengthening the cooperation between Liaoning and Chinese embassies and consulates in foreign countries, as well as foreign embassies, consulates and other organizations in China to spread the culture of Liaoning far and wide. We shall accelerate the process of opening-up in agriculture to boost the transformation and upgrade of traditional agriculture by implementing the measures of increasing the exporting amount of distinctive and advantageous agricultural products, putting great emphasis on the construction of exporting bases for agricultural products with high added values. Under the guidance of the theme of "taking a good and pleasant trip in Liaoning", we shall expand key tourist markets overseas and establish the good international tourist image for Liaoning in order to boost the continuous growth of tourism.      

19. Deepening the international-level industrial cooperation. We shall create new mode for outward-bound investment overseas and boost the international-level cooperation on production capacity to form a global network of trading, investment and financing, manufacturing and service. We shall focus on the development of key advantageous industries such as new material, high-end equipment, energetic chemistry, and automobile and auto parts, etc., actively join in the national-level policy-guiding financial programs such as National Silk Road Fund, Central Africa Development Fund, China-ASEAN Investment Cooperative Fund, and those provided by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, etc., promote the international-level industrial cooperation in different categories and the purchasing and merging of cross-border projects by means of establishing factories, cooperative development, and taking contract projects, etc. We shall put great emphasis on the support of the construction of economic trade cooperative parks in major cities and ports in countries along "the Belt and the Road", and guide the leading enterprises in Liaoning to plan and construct a series of economic trade cooperative parks to allow SMEs to follow after them to cooperate with their foreign counterparts. We shall help the Indonesia Ferronickel Comprehensive Industrial Park, India-TBEA Green Energy Industrial Park, Romania-Liaoning Industrial Park and Uganda-Liaoshen Industrial Park, etc., become national-level industrial parks. We shall make full use of the advantages such as low labor cost, rich material and few limitations on export, etc., of the countries along "the Belt and the Road" to export the relevant products with obvious competitive edges. We shall accelerate the plan and construction processes of manufacturing bases of iron and steel, automobile, clothing, building materials, and aluminum profiles, etc. in overseas areas, to stimulate the export of the relevant industrial equipment, and maintain the shares of the advantageous industries in international markets. We shall actively participate in the construction process of infrastructure in the countries along "the Belt and the Road", and promote the measures of contracting international projects, as well as the unification process of construction and operation. We shall also effectively guide and regulate the activities of investing overseas, establish and improve the mechanisms of risk assessment and control for enterprises investing in foreign countries, pay special attention to the work of supervision and service of those enterprises to strictly manage the relevant activities in order to prevent all state-owned assets from loss.     

VII. Establishing and Improving the Preferential Policies and Measures of "Dual Investment and Introduction"

20. Further expanding the market access of foreign capital. We shall fully implement the mechanism of pre-establishment national treatment and management of negative list to fully remove the limitations on equipment manufacturing and other industries for general purposes such as telecommunications, medical care, education, care for the elderly, and new-energy automobile, etc. We shall encourage foreign investors to participate in the reform of state-owned enterprises to accelerate the establishing process of mixed-ownership economy, and we shall also encourage foreign investors to participate in the investment, operation and management of PPP projects, and apply the profits obtained by foreign investors from enterprises in the Chinese mainland into the encouragement-oriented projects, and adopt tax deferral policies for those meeting the relevant conditions (with no collection of withhold income tax). We shall also implement the relevant content in the document of "Measures on Promoting Cross-Strait Economic and Cultural Communication and Cooperation" (Guotaibanfa (2018) No.1) to actively invite enterprises and talent from Taiwan to invest and start business in Liaoning.   

21. Enhancing the degree of government-level financial support of good-quality foreign investment projects. We shall carefully implement the relevant content in the document of "Measures on Expanding the Scale of Opening-up and Actively Using Foreign Investment by the State Council" (Guofa (2017) No.5) and "Measures on Promoting the Increase of the Amount of Foreign Investment" (Guofa (2017) No.39) to further use foreign investment in a reasonable way. From the years of 2018 to 2022, for the projects of advanced equipment manufacturing and modern service industries (excluding real estate, financial and pseudo-monetary projects) with the actual annual investment amount (limited to that of the actually registered capital, similarly hereinafter) of over 10 million USD in Liaoning by Top 500 global enterprises, new projects with the actual annual investment amount of over 50 million USD and investment increasing projects with the amount of over 30 million USD, the provincial-level financial department would grant them a bonus with no less than 2% of their actual annual investment amount, with the maximum amount of 10 million RMB yuan. For the international enterprises establishing their headquarters in Liaoning, with the actual annual investment amount of over 20 million USD (examined by local financial authorities), the provincial-level financial department would grant them a bonus with no less than 2% of their actual annual investment amount, with the maximum amount of 10 million RMB yuan. For the global or regional headquarters of international enterprises making great contributions to the local economic and social development, the provincial-level financial department would grant a heavy reward after careful research on the projects they have invested. For those planning to establish purchasing centers, financial management and clearing centers, as well as other financial organizations in Liaoning, with the actual annual investment amount of over 2 million USD (examined by local financial authorities), the provincial-level financial department would grant them a subsidy of 1 million RMB yuan.

22. Effectively guaranteeing the land needs of key projects. We shall carefully implement the relevant content in the document of "Suggestions on the Implementation of Measures of Further Expanding the Scope of Opening-up and Actively Using Foreign Investment by Liaoning Provincial People's Government" (Liaozhengfa (2017) No. 24) to offer priority in intensive land supply to the industrial projects invested by foreign enterprises with government-level encouragement, and the minimum land purchasing price shall be no less than 70% of the lowest local price standards of the correspondent land type for the industrial purposes in China. Governments of provincial and municipal levels shall together allocate the amount of land use for manufacturing enterprises from other provinces and countries with the actual investment amount of 1 billion RMB yuan, and also shall allocate the amount of land use for constructing office buildings for the global or regional headquarters of leading global enterprises. The relevant governmental departments shall guarantee the amount of land use for key projects in economic and technical development zones and high-tech zones of provincial level or above.  

23. Fully supporting the innovation of scientific and technological researches. We shall offer support to foreign investors planning to establish R&D centers in Liaoning. From the years of 2018 to 2022, the provincial-level financial departments would grant a subsidy from 500 thousand to 2 million RMB yuan to the foreign-invested R&D centers (with official certification) in Liaoning, and these centers would be included in the financial post-research support scheme for provincial-level scientific and technical plans by the provincial-level financial department. According to the relevant content of "Temporary Regulations on the Management of Post-research Subsidies of Special Fund of Provincial-level Scientific and Technical Plans of Liaoning" by Liaoning Provincial Financial Bureau and Liaoning Provincial Bureau of Science and Technology, the relevant governmental departments shall examine all qualified foreign-invested R&D centers and support them by means of post-research funds. Foreign-invested R&D centers with the annual R&D budget of over 50 million RMB yuan can be granted an amount of post-research subsidy as high as 10 million RMB yuan. For Top 500 global enterprises and other global leading enterprises establishing foreign-invested R&D organizations with independent legal entity in Liaoning the provincial-level financial department would grant a heavy reward after careful research on the projects they have invested. When importing R&D equipment, reagents and samples, those R&D centers can use the convenient system of national integrated customs clearance and have priority in customs declaration, or making reservation for customs clearance, etc. Qualified foreign-invested R&D centers are allowed to import second-hand key equipment for the exclusive use of research and development with low tax (with no more than one year of importation time limit). According to the relevant regulations, the value-added tax for qualified foreign enterprises providing services of technical transfer, development, counseling and other services can be exempted. Foreign-invested enterprises are encouraged and supported to apply for the establishment of high-tech enterprises or service enterprises with advanced technologies, and after relevant certification by professional organizations, they would be charged an enterprise income tax with the preferential tax rate of 15%. Furthermore, the balance of the educational expenditure (it shall account for no more than 8% of the total sum of salaries paid) for their employees shall be deducted from the annual payable amount of tax. The balance part accounting for more that 8% of the total sum of salaries shall be deducted from the amount of tax collected in the tax collection plan next year. Foreign-invested enterprises conducting R&D cooperation shall enjoy a series of preferential policies of deduction in R&D fees and technical reform subsidies according to the relevant regulations.   

24. Fully supporting the introduction of excellent talent. We shall carefully implement the implement the relevant content in the document of "The Three-year Action Plan for the All-round Rejuvenation of Talent Service in Liaoning Province (2018-2020)" to start the introduction plan of high-level talent, foreign experts and high-level teams of innovation and business startup from home and abroad, and give financial and policy-level support according to the different levels of the introduced talent and teams. We shall accelerate the integration process of all policies in provincial-level municipalities and the relevant departments to offer good environment for high-level talent to work, live and start business. Foreign talent have no limits on nationality, identity and other factors when applying for innovative and business startup projects as well as scientific and technical awards. We shall offer convenience for high-level foreign talents in their application for R (talent) visa, working permit, and long-term or permanent stay, etc. We shall accelerate the process of delegating the power of foreigners' visa and relevant document approval to the entry and exit administration departments of county-level public security organs, and extend the valid period of foreigners' talent visa, issue long-term (five to ten years) multiple-entry visa to qualified foreign talents, who can also use this visa to apply for certificates such as working permit and residence permit for working purposes. We shall also make experimental measures to allow excellent foreign students to be employed in Liaoning after graduation, and offer convenience and support to qualified introduced high-level talents home and abroad in the aspects of encouragement and awards, spouse settlement, household registration, housing, offspring education, as well as medical and senior care, etc.  

25. Increasing the amount of financial support. We shall give full play to the role of the guiding fund of provincial-level industrial (business start-up) investment, and put great emphasis on supporting the investing process of Top 500 global enterprises and other leading global enterprises in Liaoning by means of equity investment, etc. We shall support global enterprises to build two-way cross-border RMB cash pools in Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Area, as well as the foreign-invested investing, financing and rental enterprises in the area to obtain the certificate of conducting the cash pooling and foreign currency settlement business. We shall increase the number of transaction types of RMB business under the item of capital to promote the work of direct investment into the business of RMB settlement, cross-border trade financing, and other items for foreign investors. We shall clear the cross-border RMB reflowing channels, support qualified enterprises to issue stocks and bonds in foreign countries and regions for the convenience of capital reflow. We shall also advocate the activities of the import and export of bulk commodities to be priced and settled in RMB yuan, and carefully implement the policies of prudent macro-management of full-caliber cross-border financing to improve the convenience degree for market subject to conduct overseas financing to support the development of the substantial economy. Foreign-invested enterprises enjoy the same supporting policies concerning the listing of private enterprises in domestic markets, the listing in New OTC (over-the-counter) Market, and the financing in regional equity markets put forward by the relevant administrative departments of provincial and municipal levels.   

26. Taking positive measures to conduct effective investment invitation with clear targets. Governments of all levels shall put forward innovative, operable and preferential polices for investment invitation within the statutory limits of their own, stabilize and strengthen the professional teams for investment invitation, guarantee that the special funds for investment invitation are paid in full and the work of investment invitation is completed in an effective way with achievements. Main leaders shall actively take the lead of the teams of investment invitation, striving for introduce a series of good-quality projects, and shall conduct the activities of investment invitation and promotion with clear targets on important platforms for commercial communication such as Davos Economic Forum, Singapore-Liaoning Economic Trade Conference, China-Japan Economic Cooperation Forum, Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair, Northeast Asia Expo, Dalian International Software & Information Service Fair and Xiamen International Fair for Investment and Trade, etc. We shall conduct the activities of investment invitation by targeting at developed economies, Top 500 global enterprises, and medium-or-high-end leading enterprises in the relevant industrial chains, and encourage qualified cities to establish offices in key countries and regions such as Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong SAR, etc. to conduct the activities of investment invitation with clear targets by strengthening communication and frequently exchanging information. We shall hold a series of activities of investment invitation and promotion in Hong Kong SAR and other key countries and regions such as Southeast Asian countries, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and the USA, etc., on a yearly basis, and hold one or more activities of "week for the invitation and promotion of investment in Liaoning" and organize the special investment invitation activity of "the return of businessmen from Liaoning" in the areas of the Pearl River Delta, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and the Yangtze River Delta respectively. Depending on the current advantageous industries, we shall greatly support the measure of "attracting businessmen from other places with local ones", pay special attention to the upgrade of the supplying facilities of every part of the upstream and downstream industrial chain, improve the modes and methods of investment invitation, and achieve "targeted investment invitation" by means of big data application to grasp business opportunities precisely and enhance the efficiency of investment invitation.  

27. Establishing and improving the stimulating mechanism of the work of investment invitation. We shall establish an interdepartmental working mechanism for the main leaders of provincial, municipal and county levels to make researches to solve the difficulties and problems in the process of investment invitation. From the years of 2018 to 2022, the provincial-level financial department would spend 50 million RMB yuan a year (which is included in the annual special fund scheme for all-round opening-up) on the encouragement of the work of investment invitation, besides, all administrative divisions shall also make extra special funds to support the relevant work. We shall enhance the support of organizing delegations paying visits to the countries along "the Belt and the Road" and the surrounding areas, make preferential policies for public business delegations for investment invitation in foreign countries and regions, and give them full priority and offer seamless guarantee in going through the relevant departure procedures when stipulating the plans for temporary visits in foreign countries for public affairs. We shall also establish and improve the mechanisms of responsibility tracking and regular reporting for the implementation of key projects, and make detailed schedules for the contracted key projects to better conduct tracking services, with the aim of guaranteeing the satisfactory achievements of the activities of investment invitation.

VIII. Putting Great Emphasis on the Cultivation of New Advantages in Foreign Trade Competition 

28. Promoting the optimization and upgrade of the structure of foreign trade. We shall further develop traditional markets such as Japan, South Korea, the USA, ASEAN countries and the EU, etc., and meanwhile, expand the scale of emerging markets in the countries along "the Belt and the Road", the Americas and African countries, etc. We shall fully promote the activities of "the going-out of thousands of enterprises" and "the brands of Liaoning entering markets across the globe" to strengthen the guidance in categorization in exported goods of key industries, maintain the exporting scale of main products of the industries such as equipment manufacturing, petrochemical, metallurgy, clothing and agriculture, etc., promote the development of the exporting scale of products such as equipment sets, chemical material for special purposes, good-quality steel and aluminum products, distinctive agricultural products, swimming suits, fur, shoes and hats, etc., as well as the products from hi-tech enterprises represented by Intel Dalian, to increase the amount of scientific and technical elements as well as international competitiveness of the exported products. We shall give full play to the role of export credit insurance, simplify the procedure of the application for the subsidies of credit insurance and support the export of the relevant enterprises' products to emerging markets. We shall also guarantee the scale of insurance and the sufficiency of the insurance-related compensation for the projects included in the development lists of the construction of "the Belt and the Road" initiative and the economic corridor of China, Mongolia and Russia, etc., as well as the export of large equipment sets such as oceanic engineering, mining machinery, metallurgical equipment, rubber processing machinery, electric equipment, automobile, cement and medical equipment, etc., and the exporting financing of contracting projects overseas, further expand the scale of short-term export credit insurance and lower the fees of it. From the years of 2018 to 2022, the provincial-level financial department would spend 300 million RMB yuan (which is included in the annual special fund scheme for all-round opening-up) on the support of the reorganization, transformation and upgrade of the structure of foreign trade, with the aim of cultivating new modes for foreign trade and improve service levels of foreign trade. All administrative divisions shall put forward preferential policies for supporting the development of foreign trade.  

29. Promoting the joint development of the various kinds of operating subjects of foreign trade. We shall encourage the leading enterprises of foreign trade such as Brilliance BM, Dalian West Pacific Petrochemical, Hengli Petrochemical, Ansteel, Bensteel, Dalian Intel, Dalian Yidu, Panjin Beiran, and Minmetals Yingkou Medium Plate Co. to extend their industrial chains to improve their international operation level and competitiveness. We shall encourage key equipment manufacturing enterprises such as SMTCL, Shenyang TBEA, Brilliance Auto, DSIC, and Fushun Yongmao Construction Machinery, etc. to take high-level after-sale service as the significant means of expanding international markets. We shall encourage the relevant enterprises to construct a marketing network of products with distinctive Liaoning features, develop cross-border franchised business and improve the standards of after-sale service. We shall encourage the construction of overseas after-sale maintenance service centers and spare parts manufacturing bases for large-scale equipment sets in the fields of electric power, telecommunications and rail transportation, etc. We shall also encourage enterprises to create self-owned brands or acquiring the brands from enterprises overseas, help promote the brands and products of Liaoning, as well as increasing their influence and popularity in overseas markets.   

30. Cultivating new business formats and modes of foreign trade. We shall promote the trade of market purchasing, help accelerate the development of the pilot domestic and international trade zone of Xiliu Market in Haicheng of Anshan, as well as the commodity markets of Liaoyang's Tong'erpu Market and Shenyang's Wuai Market, etc. to explore new channels for export. We shall promote the innovative development of 36 provincial-level comprehensive service enterprises of foreign trade such as Liaoning Export Times and Yingkou Dongsheng, etc., introduce a series of comprehensive service enterprises of foreign trade from overseas in the industries similar to those of enterprises in Liaoning, improve the service abilities of local authorities in the fields of customs clearance, logistics, tax refund, financing and insurance, etc. We shall strengthen our cooperation with enterprises of military trade and expand the scale of emerging markets of the countries along "the Belt and the Road". We shall accelerate the construction of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone in Dalian, and promote the approving process of another cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone in Shenyang. We shall also actively cultivate more cross-border e-commerce platform enterprises such as Dalian Tiancheng, Yueyang Wuyu, and Huludao Fangde, etc., promote the strategic cooperation with well-known cross-border e-commerce platform home and abroad to create an "online silk road" for Liaoning Province, as well as conducting new business such as foreign trade rental and bonded trade, etc.   

31. Accelerating the construction of transformation and upgrade bases for foreign trade. We shall put great emphasis on the construction of a series of transformation and upgrade bases for foreign trade such as Huishan agriculture in Shenyang, fine and special steel in Anshan, seafood and aquatic products in Donggang of Dandong, swimming suits in Xingcheng, and clothes in Xiliu, Haicheng of Anshan, etc. to develop more provincial-level export bases with distinctive industrial features, well-developed facilities, and strong influence and leading power, and encourage them to apply for the title of national-level export bases. We shall also support the construction of industrial clusters such as Jinzhou's national-level key gradient transfer base for processing trade, equipment manufacturing and processing trade bases in Dalian and Shenyang, and Panjin's petrochemical and fine chemical bases, leather industrial clusters in Fuxin and pilose antler processing bases in Xifeng, etc. We shall also support the construction of leading enterprises' transformation and upgrade bases for foreign trade, expand the scale of the groups of export enterprises, and promote these bases' construction of public service platforms to turn these bases into one of the important medium for increasing the scale of exporting commodities in the province.      

32. Actively expanding the importing scale of commodities. We shall organize enterprises to participate in the annual China International Import Expo, as well as import fairs for Japanese and South Korean commodities to build and expand the highly-effective import platforms. We shall give full play to the leading roles as well as the advantages of sea ports of all coastal cities in Liaoning to help expand the importing scale of advanced technical equipment, key spare parts, distinctive good-quality consumer goods, high added-value products and resource-type products, etc. We shall put great emphasis on the import of advanced technologies and equipment in the fields of motors and vehicles (which are in urgently need for the relevant industries in China), five-axis machine tools and processing centers, and robot-controlled intelligent welding production lines, etc. to improve the core competitiveness of the relevant enterprises. We shall focus on the development of parallel car import of Dalian Port to expand the scale of imported car consumption. We shall also steadily expand the importing scale of good-quality consumer goods such as fruits, meat, dairy, wine and liquor, and cosmetics, etc., introduce well-known suppliers of consumer goods overseas to enter the central business districts in cities of Shenyang and Dalian to attract Chinese consumers to purchase, instead of buying them in foreign countries and regions to help improve the domestic consuming levels.      

33. Putting great emphasis on the development of service trade. We shall give full play to the leading role of Shenyang and Dalian in the field of service trade to boost the process of transformation and upgrade of outsourcing service in Liaoning Province, and help Hunnan New District in Shenyang and Jinpu New Area in Dalian become national-level cultural import bases. We shall stipulate the assessment method of provincial-level training bases for service outsourcing to improve the statistical system of service trade and to establish the supervising and examining system for service trade. We shall also actively organize enterprises in the fields of service trade and high technologies to participate in all kinds of well-known trade fairs home and abroad, as well as making the annual Dalian International Software & Information Service Fair successful. We shall also promote the innovation in the modes of service trade and cultivate new advantages in the different fields of service trade such as service outsourcing, culture and traditional Chinese medicine, etc.  

IX. Creating an Internationalized, Legalized and Convenient Business Operation Environment.

34. Enhancing the convenience level for trade. We shall accelerate the construction process of "one-stop service" system for international trade and meet the national-level standardized requirements by the end of 2018, with steadily increasing participation rates for all relevant enterprises. We shall further increase the number of functions of "one-stop service" and expand the service scope into the aspects of finance, cross-border e-commerce, as well as port and service trade, etc. We shall enlarge the covering areas of "three exchanges" to accelerate the building process of the mechanism of one-stop coordinated customs examination and coordinated prevention and control of risks in ports. We shall boost the reform in the fields of consolidated tax collection, electric tax payment, self-declaration and payment, and paperless customs clearance, etc. We shall also continue the experimental work in the fields of shortening freight customs clearance time, lowering costs, and exempting the hoisting, shifting and storing fees of the freight from enterprises having no problems of customs inspection to further improve the convenience level for trade.     

35. Further boosting the reform of administrative right delegation, strengthening management and optimizing service. We shall further optimize and simplify the approving procedures of projects by continuously improving and promoting the reforming items such as "all-in-one multi-purpose certificate", all-step computerization, electric version of business license, and simplified naming procedures, etc., and accelerate the experimental work of the reform of "separation of business license and business certificate". We shall put great emphasis on the implementation of supervision mechanisms such as the enterprise information publicity, management of the enterprise list under abnormal operation and the list of enterprises with severely illegal behaviors, collection of enterprise-related information from governmental departments, punishment of dishonest enterprises, the random examination of "dual notification, dual randomness, and one-aspect publicity" concerning post-approval business registration to construct a new-type market supervision mechanism with information collection and share as the foundation, information publicity as the means, and credit supervision as the core.

36. Actively promoting the construction of service-oriented government with credit. We shall strengthen the leading, promoting and guaranteeing role of legislation in the cause of all-round opening-up to unswervingly accelerate the process of lawful administration. We shall learn from the experiences of the highly-developed areas in China to lower the fees of enterprise-related administrative affairs according to the relevant laws and regulations, and to avoid the phenomena of random inspection, arbitrary charge collection and apportionment to lower the operation costs for enterprises. We shall pay special attention to serving the enterprises and to immediately and lawfully handle the complaints from the enterprises, carefully solve the remaining problems in the process of investment invitation, and fulfill the commitments to foreign investors and enterprises from other parts of China according to the relevant laws and regulations. We shall make sure that all policies concerning investment invitation be implemented to guarantee the continuation of them. We shall also carefully implement the relevant document such as "Provisions of Optimizing Business Operation Environment in Liaoning", and accelerate the construction process of a fair, transparent and predictable business operation environment guided by the working principles of internationalization, legalization and convenience, with the aim of creating the province with the best environment for business development in China within three to five years.  

X. Guaranteeing Measures for Strengthening the Process of All-round Opening-up

37. Strengthening the work of organizing and  leadership. We shall strengthen and improve the leadership of the provincial CPC committee upon the cause of all-round opening-up by putting the promotion of all-round opening-up in the important position among the overall work for the CPC committee and the government. We shall further develop the leading and organizing system as well as the relevant working mechanism, put great emphasis on the rooting of working unification philosophy as well as the overall coordination of all works, and clarify the working responsibilities for all staff. Main leaders of all administrative levels shall guide all work in person, take the overall responsibilities, grasp key points, find breakthroughs precisely, and carefully conduct all the working aspects of all-round opening-up in order to make satisfactory achievements. We shall improve the quality of the comprehensive coordination organizations concerning the work of outward-bound opening-up of all levels to clarify all responsibilities assigned to the highly-capable staff to fully play the role of coordination and guidance. Administrative departments in all areas shall put forward leading experimental suggestions and stipulate the detailed measures for all-round opening-up. We shall construct the port administration organizations meeting the relevant standards across the province, and strengthen the functions and administrative powers of the port management offices and promote the customs clearance of the ports in the province in a coordinated way. We shall also make innovation in the management mechanism of enterprises' organizations overseas, and make explorations in establishing offices and other organizations in key countries and regions with the cooperation of the relevant enterprises.       

38. Strengthening the construction of opening-up cadre teams. We shall construct an outward-bound cadre team with qualified political standards, strict working style, and high-level capabilities, and boldly give important work to the young cadres with international horizon and working experiences concerning opening-up to instill new power into the leading groups of all levels. We shall also strengthen the training frequency for cadres of all levels (especially those in leadership) to improve their thinking modes of opening-up and decisive skills.  

39. Strengthening the construction of mechanisms of task promotion, examination and supervision. We shall include the work of opening-up into one of the key examination and supervision affairs and one of the items for performance appraisal for the provincial-level CPC committee and the provincial government, and further decompose and analyze all the key tasks to set up task schedules and schemes, act accordingly, and track the implementing process in a coordinated way.    

40. Strengthening financial support. We shall establish and improve the policies concerning financial support. From the years of 2018 to 2022, the provincial-level financial department would establish special fund to support the cause of all-round opening-up every year, putting great emphasis on the support of investment invitation, the construction of opening-up platforms, the development of industrial parks as well as the new modes and formats of foreign trade, and expanding international markets, etc. The administrative departments of all areas shall also establish similar special fund to support the local cause of opening-up. We shall pay special attention to the support of financial capital towards the introduction of good-quality projects from outside the province, and offer rewards to those responsible for the work of "dual establishment and dual introduction" towards the enterprises outside the province according to the similar supporting policies for foreign investors. We shall stipulate supporting financial policies for improving the mechanism of credit insurance for the convenience of enterprises to export products and go out, establish a system for industrial financial service, encourage leading enterprises in the industry of equipment manufacturing to open financial institutions for handling financial affairs and collecting private equity fund, etc. We shall support the work of the enterprises' innovation work targeting at their products, expand their service scope, focus on the development of the supplier credit and buyer credit in the exporting process, and make full use of the products of negotiation under documentary credit, credit insurance financing, and foreign currency financing pledge, etc. to lower the financing costs for foreign trade enterprises. We shall also establish a well-developed mechanism of financial support for business startup, as well as the development of scientific and technical finance, micro-finance and Internet finance.  

Administrative departments of all areas shall fully acknowledge the significance of all-round opening-up in leading the cause of overall rejuvenation of Liaoning with high-level emphasis and active attitude, clarify the responsibilities for all staff, conduct frequent cooperation, stipulate detailed implementation plans and measures, as a guarantee for making satisfactory achievements of all key works and policies and creating a new situation for the cause of all-round opening-up of Liaoning.