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BEIJING, June 29-- China is sincere and serious about opening up. On Thursday, China unveiled a new negative list for foreign investment, with the number of items down to 48 from 63 in the previous version. The new list widens market access for foreign investment in primary, secondary and tertiary sectors, detailing 22 opening-up measures in fields including finance, transportation, professional services, infrastructure, energy, resources, and agriculture. This marks the latest efforts of the Chinese government to expand opening-up and invite foreign investors to join in China's economic development. In fact, China's economic development over the past four decades has been a process of actively integrating with the world economy and constantly expanding its opening up. Over the past 40 years, China's GDP has averaged an annual growth rate of around 9.5 percent in comparable prices. The country's foreign trade has also registered an annual growth of 14.5 percent in U.S. dollar term. Seventeen years after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), China has comprehensively fulfilled its commitments to the WTO, substantially opened its market to the world, and delivered mutually beneficial and win-win outcomes. As of 2010, China had already delivered on all of its tariff reduction commitments, lowering the overall tariff level from 15.3 percent in 2001 to 9.8 percent, according to a white paper titled "China and the World Trade Organization" released on Thursday. | 
