GOVT VOWS TO STABILIZE FOREIGN TRADE

China will work to shorten the negative list on foreign investment and encourage financial institutions to increase foreign trade loans to cope with the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic and keep steady progress in foreign trade and investment.

This was decided at the State Council's executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday.

"Keeping foreign trade and foreign investment stable is vitally important as the Chinese economy is deeply integrated into the world economy. Given the severe impact of the epidemic on foreign trade, we must implement targeted policies to arrest the slide in foreign trade and foreign investment, to forestall damage to the wider economy," Li said.

Efforts must be intensified to shorten the negative list on foreign investment and expand the number of industries in which foreign investment is encouraged, so that foreign investors in more sectors benefit from tax and other incentives, said a statement issued after the meeting.

Participants at the meeting called for sound preparations to be made for the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) this spring to bolster cooperation in the nation's foreign trade.

The meeting decided that all export tax rebates must be made in full and without delay except for energy intensive, polluting and resource sectors.

Financial institutions will be encouraged to increase foreign trade loans, fully implement the policy of loan deferment, and consider further rolling over loans made to smaller firms deeply affected by the outbreak but with good prospects.

Commercial insurance companies will be supported in offering short-term export credit insurance services and lowering premium rates.

Meanwhile, recent tax and fee relief policies designed to help companies in difficulty should equally apply to both domestic and foreign-invested enterprises.

Figures released by the General Administration of Customs on Saturday show that the country's imports and exports totaled 4.12 trillion yuan ($590 billion) in the first two months of this year, down by 9.6 percent year-on-year.

"All companies, regardless of size or type of ownership, should benefit from the recent policies designed to ease their difficulties. We must swiftly work out a further shortened negative list on the access of foreign investment to more clearly demonstrate our firm resolve on opening-up," Li said.

CHINA'S AVIATION SECTOR RECORDS 6.9% RISE IN PASSENGER NUMBERS

China's air passenger numbers increased 6.9 percent year-on-year in 2019, up to 1.35 billion according to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China on March 9.

In terms of air traffic, domestic routes transported 1.21 billion passengers, up 6.5 percent, and international routes rose 10.4 percent, transporting 139.36 million passengers.

In terms of individual airports, 39 saw their yearly passenger throughput surpass 10 million, two more than 2018, and 35 were between 2 million to 10 million, six more than 2018. Airports with an annual passenger number below 2 million stood at 165, dropping by four from the previous year.

The throughput of Beijing Capital International Airport retained top position in 2019, although its passenger flow dipped by 1 percent. It still was the only airport in China that saw passenger throughput exceed 100 million.

Top 10 rankings remained the same as 2018, namely Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, Kunming Changshui International Airport, Xi'an Xianyang International Airport, Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Chongqing Jiangbei Airport and Hangzhou International Airport.

However, as throughput of the Hangzhou International Airport broke 40 million at the end of 2019, all top 10 airports in China in terms of passenger throughput saw their yearly passenger numbers go beyond the 40 million mark.

Among the four major city clusters, the throughput of airports in the Yangtze River Delta region ranked first in 2019, registering 265.57 million passengers, up 7.0 percent year-on-year, followed by the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region with a throughput of 146.66 million, up 1.1 percent year-on-year, the Pearl River Delta with a throughput of 142.03 million, up 7.4 percent and Chengdu-Chongqing region with a throughput of 110.40 million, an 8.2 percent rise.