China's Finance Minister hits out at US 'negative list'

Beijing

CHINA's Finance Minister Lou Jiwei criticised the US proposal for sectors to be closed to foreign investment under a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) that is currently being negotiated between Washington and Beijing, state media reported.

Mr Lou said that the US negative list, while outlining prohibitions on key infrastructure, technology and national security investment, failed to provide specific definitions over its restrictions, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. "The stipulation increases the uncertainty for Chinese investors in the United States and makes us feel very uncomfortable, " Mr Lou said, without elaborating.

Negative lists are a pivotal element in negotiations between China and the US to conclude the BIT. Last month, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said that it was "critical" that China's negative list be short. Some analysts believe China's list will be a barometer for how serious the country's leaders are about their promised market reforms.

On Friday, China's Vice-Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said that he expects China and the US to exchange "negative list" offers in the next month or so.

Mr Zhu said that he would expect "substantial" progress on the issue in September, when China's President Xi Jinping meets with US President Barack Obama in Washington, though he added that much hard work remained on the trade front between the two countries.

Mr Lou was speaking in Washington DC on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings. REUTERS