On August 4, 2017, with the approval of the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the People's Bank of China, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Guiding and Regulating the Direction of Overseas Investment" (Guobanfa [2017] No. 74) (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"). The guidance categorizes overseas investment into "encouraged", "restricted", and "prohibited" categories, further guiding and regulating the direction of overseas investment.