Other Government

State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE)
SAFE is an administration indirectly supervised by the State Council, which is tasked with managing foreign exchange reserves and drafting the rules and regulations governing foreign exchange activities. It also has a sovereign wealth fund. The head office is in Beijing; it has 36 administrative offices in each of the provinces; 298 central sub-branches and 508 sub-branches under them.

Ministry of Commerce (MofCOM)
The Ministry of Commerce is the fifth iteration of what began in 1949 as the Ministry of Trade. MofCOM’s responsibility includes fostering a closer partnership between the economies of Hong Kong and the PRC, which has resulted in the continually revised Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA). MofCOM has a role in approving the restructuring of enterprises wishing to list on both domestic and overseas exchanges. The UK enjoys a good working relationship with MofCOM, the most recent Joint Economic Trade Committee presentation being on 26 September 2008 in Beijing.

Ministry of Finance
The Ministry of Finance administers macroeconomic policies and the national annual budget. It handles fiscal policy, economic regulations and government expenditure for the State. This includes Double Tax Agreements, which are signed by the Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner (appointed by the States Council). China currently has 86 effective Double Tax Agreements (see Appendix) - nearly 20% of them signed within the last 5 years. The Ministry of Finance is the World Banks’ partner agency in China. The Minister, his Vice Ministers and officials remain key interlocutors for progressing the interests of the financial services sector in China. The UK is closely engaged with the Ministry through regular exchanges including the UK/China Financial dialogue.

China Investment Company
The China Investment Company, under the Chairmanship of Lou Jiwei and Vice-Chairmen Guo Xiqing and Jesse Wang, is in the process of being set up to manage China’s sovereign wealth funds. It will have the task of investing up to US$200bn (drawn from Treasury bill issues). The CIC’s first foray into the UK markets was to take a 3% stake in a “major UK industrial firm” in May 2008.