Have you perhaps heard of "reform and opening up"? It started being a thing in the 1970s and every Chinese government since then has opened up more and more, because that's how they're getting rich.

The latest big move in that direction was the new Foreign Investment Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Investment_Law_of_the_... that went into effect this year, which introduced a bunch of big changes, such as switching from the previous system of "everything is off-limits to foreign investment unless explicitly allowed" to "everything is open to foreign investment unless explicitly forbidden". That list of restrictions http://images.mofcom.gov.cn/wzs/202006/20200624143734575.pdf already includes provisions for further opening in the future, such as removing the last restrictions on manufacturing passenger cars by 2022. (Special-purpose vehicles, electric cars and commercial vehicles are already exempt.)

If that doesn't demonstrate "intention of opening up", I don't know what would.

The only thing about China that hasn't changed seems to be Western commentators' knowledge of it.

I'll believe it when I see it. This law will be applied arbitrarily. Try critising Xi and see how far you get.

Is Tesla's wholly-foreign owned Shanghai plant enough to see to believe, or does Musk need to compare Xi to Winnie the Pooh first? https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2154674/tesl...

It’s one data point.