China Market Intelligence

On March 13, the final day of the National People’s Congress (NPC) meetings, the legislative body officially approved China’s senior State Council leadership. There were not many surprises since many of the government personnel shifts were anticipated (or already announced) following the 20th Party Congress when senior officials took new positions in the Chinese Communist Party.

On March 7, China’s State Council submitted a government restructuring plan to the National People’s Congress (NPC). Key elements of the plan include restructuring the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), creating a new data bureau, and creating a new administration overseeing the financial sector.

The SCC is one of three approved methods for CBDT of personal information under China’s 2021 Personal Information Protection Law. The other two methods are the government security review and personal information export certification.

On March 5, Premier Li Keqiang opened China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) by delivering the annual Government Work Report, which sets China’s GDP growth target for the year and other high-level priorities. This is released in concert with the National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) annual draft Plan for Economic and Social Development and the Ministry of Finance’s draft central and local government budgets, which include further details.

Since the United States imposed a set of unprecedented new export controls on China’s chipmaking sector last October, China’s leaders have struggled to form a coordinated policy response that offers clear instructions to government regulators and industry. One unifying fact is that all parties see US restrictions and efforts to bring allies on board as a serious threat to China’s domestic semiconductor sector and its ability to interact with the highly globalized semiconductor industry.

As China’s local governments concluded their annual Two Sessions meetings last month, local GDP targets and personnel changes have been announced. These meetings are forerunners to the national Two Sessions, China’s annual parliamentary meetings which are scheduled to begin on March 4 and provide a window to the national economic outlook and forthcoming policies.

Despite bilateral tensions, years of escalating trade restrictions, and lockdowns in China for much of 2022, US-China trade in goods increased 5.2 percent in 2022 to a record high of $690.6 billion. Growth in trade with China is part of a broader wave of record US trade with the world.

Many companies are preparing senior executive travel to China for the first time in several years now that China has eliminated quarantine requirements on inbound travelers. To better understand the different factors companies are considering in planning executive travel to China, USCBC conducted a short survey to help members benchmark against each other’s plans.

US-China relations are at a difficult and highly uncertain inflection point. Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken participated in the Munich Security Conference February 17 to 19. Secretary Blinken and President Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy adviser, Wang Yi, reportedly had a tense private meeting during which both sides drew lines in the sand and did not appear to de-escalate the balloon incident as was hoped.

Chinese investments throughout the United States are under increasing scrutiny, with once uncontroversial projects now receiving national attention. A growing number of state and local regulators are racing to create new tools to review and block such investments due to political and national security concerns.