The State Council, China's cabinet, issued on Tuesday new measures to further open the world's second-largest economy to foreign investment, including easing restrictions on investment in banks and other financial institutions.
The cabinet said in a statement posted on its website that China would lower restrictions on foreign investment in banking, securities, investment management, futures, insurance, credit ratings and accounting sectors.
The cabinet said the measures were intended to create a "fair and competitive" environment that puts "domestic and foreign companies on an equal footing."
Restrictions on foreign investment in telecommunications, the Internet, culture, education and the transportation sector will be removed "in an orderly way", the State Council said.
The measures will also end restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacture of rail equipment, motorbikes, ethanol, and oils and fats processing, while easing restrictions on unconventional gas, including shale oil, oil sands and shale gas, and mineral resources.
Foreign investment in oil and natural gas projects will shift from an approval-based system to a registration system, the notice said.
