China Market Intelligence

China’s 2023 GDP growth was above 5 percent, surpassing the official target. Given that China’s economic performance in 2022 was lackluster, China will require much stronger economic activity to maintain a similar growth rate. Policymakers continue to opt for limited fiscal stimulus and are instead looking to attract foreign investment to catalyze growth for the time being.

Multiple states in the United States are considering passing legislation to regulate land purchases by Chinese entities in 2024. This is a continuation of a pattern that began last year that reflects broader tensions between the United States and China.

As 2024 begins, it is essential to understand how dynamics between the United States and China changed over the course of last year. At the start of 2023, China had only just begun unwinding its zero-COVID policies.

On December 21 of last year, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) published an updated version of its Catalog of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export to include new export bans and restrictions on processing technologies for producing rare earth magnets.

Last August, China’s State Council released Document No. 11, also called the 24 Measures, which outlines measures to attract and utilize foreign investment in China. Several of the measures speak to long-held concerns of the US business community, including cross-border data transfer, government procurement, and intellectual property (IP) theft.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has set a goal of passing a comprehensive China bill by year’s end. Select Committee on the CCP Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI), has said the same, and it remains to see whether either will be able to rally enough support in their respective Houses.

Thank you to all who partnered on and joined our Jubilee Gala in Washington last week, as well as those who were a part of our 50th anniversary galas in Beijing and Shanghai earlier this year. I was honored to be in the company of so many members, USCBC alum, friends, China scholars, and officials from both the United States and China.

From December 11 to 12, China held its Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), an annual agenda-setting moment for China’s economic policy for the upcoming year. As in past years, the meeting was chaired by President Xi Jinping.

China has seen several high-level personnel changes at the central and provincial levels over the last few months. Notably, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) voted to remove Li Shangfu from his position as China’s defense minister.

House and Senate lawmakers unveiled the compromise version of the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last week after weeks of negotiations. The NDAA, the annual legislation that authorizes funding the Department of Defense, has become a key yearly vehicle for pushing through China policy priorities, including those not related to defense.