media - Market remains closed for foreign investors - official

China is not going to open its publishing market for foreign investors, an official of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP)said yesterday in Beijing, according to state newswire Xinhua.
While repeating only existing policies, Yu Yongzhan, deputy director of GAPP might cool down unrealistic expectations abroad. Yu remembered that the publishing industry was not part of the WTO-agreements and repeated that the domestic industry could not yet face foreign competition.
Only the retail market for publication allows foreign investments. At the backdoor of many Chinese media, foreign investors are struggling to get in, for example by participating in non-editorial activities of the media. Chinese private enterpreneurs are already much longer trying to erode state-ownership in one of the last remains of the planned economy.
Foreign publishing organizations can also not set up branches in China, Yu reminded.