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The Chinese government is formulating a new guideline that will essentially allow many strategically important and emerging industries to get foreign investment, says the China Daily.

The select industries, in the recently released Foreign Direct Investment Industry Guidelines, include high-tech, clean energy, aerospace and aviation, new materials, high-end manufacturing and advanced logistics. The guidelines will replace the previous version, published in 2007.There are also changes in the services sector with vocational education and training encouraged in the guidelines and the medical professions are no longer excluded.

But the guidelines also present some restrictions. Foreign companies, for the first time, are excluded from some energy industries, including crude oil and nuclear fuel processing and chemical manufacturing.

Foreign companies are also prohibited from industries dealing in certain metals and marine resources as well as seed selection and production and processing agricultural goods.

"The prohibition is understandable," says Huo Jianguo, director of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a think tank affiliated to the Ministry of Commerce. "China has to say no to foreign investment in some sectors for the sake of protecting its industries and natural resources."

The guidelines are still being formulated and a month-long program soliciting public opinion commenced at the beginning of April.

According to the Daily, FDI hit a record high last year, growing by 17.4 percent from a year earlier to $105.74 billion, after dropping by 2.6 percent in 2009. From January to February, China's FDI grew by 27 percent year-on-year to $17.8 billion.

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