According to MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), a Taipei-based ICT research institute, the reduction is particularly significant for the manufacturing sector. Aside from cutting down 17 measures, the 2015 version of the Negative List features a more comprehensive catalogue of sector.

While the latest version of the Negative List is a welcoming change, Wallace Hsu, senior industry analyst with MIC, cautions that the negative list is not the only regulation foreign investors must comply with.

"Foreign investment in FTZs also has to act in accordance with the Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment, which is the guiding principle on all foreign investment in China," explains Hsu.

"No Sino-foreign partnerships are allowed for those fields prohibited or limited to joint venture, cooperation, cooperative joint venture, equity controlled or dominated by the Chinese party, and a certain amount of foreign participation, in the Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment."

Prospective foreign investors are advised to pay more attention to the restricted items, as the inclusion of the Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment in the Negative List will become a major hurdle in the FTZs.