In this Feb 17, 2020 photo, containers are unloaded from a ship at a port of Qingdao, East China's Shandong province. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

China will accelerate cuts to the negative list of foreign investment access to the country and pilot free trade zones, said the Ministry of Commerce on Friday.

The ministry will speed up the revision of the catalogue of industries that foreign capital are encouraged to invest in and increase the number of encouraged items, said Zong Changqing, director of the department of foreign investment administration of the Ministry of Commerce.

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About 63 percent of the surveyed companies intend to expand investment in China in 2020, Zong added, citing a survey report issued by the American Chamber of Commerce in China.