CHINA plans to fully open its shipping market by scrapping foreign ownership restrictions in all shipping and auxiliary sectors, as well as promote the free trade zone policy into more regions in the country, deputy minister He Jianzhong at China's Ministry of Transport revealed at the World Shipping Summit.
The welcoming of private entities is part of a greater overarching scheme put forwards by the Xi Jinping-led government in the face of the tariff war with the US, reported Singapore's Splash 247.
China has already lifted foreign ownership restrictions in the shipowning, shipmanagement, shipping agency, cargo handling and shipbuilding sectors over the past few years.
The Chinese government also recently approved the establishment of a new free trade zone in Hainan province, following the setup of FTZs in Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Fujian and planned FTZs for the inland provinces of Sichuan, Henan and Hubei and Shaanxi.