The People's Bank of China says the country will be more open to foreign capital this year even though the prospect of a strong economic recovery is still unclear.

Although the impending withdrawals of various countries' economic stimulus packages may also complicate the efforts to end the global economic crisis, the Chinese government has decided to increase the penetration of foreign capital into the country's financial industry in an appropriate way.

An editorial in the Global Times quotes some western officials who said if China opened its market to western financial institutions the way it opened its market to five-star hotels, the potential risks would be huge for the country itself and the world at large.

The editorial warns the doors to free trade should not swing open too quickly and that market openness should be managed at the right pace, as China has done during the past three decades. But it also notes that the stakes are higher in the country's financial industry. It argues that if China is fully open to foreign capital, the capital operation pattern common in developed economies such as the United States and several European nations will not suit its existing financial system on such short notice. As a result, chaos would erupt sooner or later in the financial sector.

The editorial concludes that China should gradually liberalize its financial industry, because a sudden torrent of foreign capital would be undesirable. It calls for a prudent approach to financial liberalization that would yield a productive outcome as evidenced over the past three decades of gradual financial reform whereby more market competition has been encouraged and distressed loans have been effectively curbed. Such a policy has shielded China from being hit as severely by the current financial crisis and enabled it to rebound quicker than other advanced nations.

(CRIENGLISH.com April 6, 2010)