Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang will succeed Cui Tiankai as China’s ambassador to the United States during a time of immense friction between the two countries. After quarantining for two weeks, a requirement for all Chinese diplomats serving around the world, the embassy will formally present Qin’s credentials to President Joe Biden before he can assume the ambassadorship. Qin, a Tianjin native, is considered a seasoned and professional diplomat.
China Market Intelligence
Top Stories

Development of new energy vehicles (NEVs) remains a high priority for China’s state planners. In the past, this has theoretically covered hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), but in practice, the term still almost exclusively refers to battery-powered EVs. China is behind the curve on hydrogen technology compared to tech leaders like Japan, whose Toyota has sold FCVs since 2014. Following recent local government efforts and a mention in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (FYP), however, hydrogen...

We are grateful for your guidance and will continue to focus on your top priorities. Please allow me to share some thoughts and observations about the US-China relationship and an update on USCBC.

Today, the US government issued an advisory urging businesses to consider risks associated with operating in Hong Kong, alongside sanctions on seven additional Chinese and Hong Kong officials for violating Hong Kong’s autonomy. This follows the release earlier this week of a similar advisory for companies with supply chains associated with Xinjiang and Uyghur forced labor, and comes amid apparent diplomatic challenges organizing an official visit by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to...

The world’s largest carbon market is nearing operational launch following the release of a legal basis for the market in February and a decade-long pilot across seven provinces and cities. With China’s national Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) still facing several operational issues, the market’s opening later this week will test China’s ability to balance economic growth with President Xi Jinping’s “3060 targets.”

While China’s government procurement regime has become more transparent and accessible over the last decade, foreign companies still face significant hurdles, including uneven practices across regions and industries and barriers to entry. The pressure to “buy local” has become more pronounced following a rise in US-China tensions, concerns about the reliability of foreign suppliers, and calls to boost technology self-sufficiency.

The United States and its allies in the West have issued strong rebukes of China’s actions in Xinjiang and pushed policy proposals to call out China’s labor practices. Though lawmakers and heads of state in Europe and North America have made their concerns clear, it remains to be seen if they can coordinate not just messaging, but also joint sanctions or other concrete measures, as they did in March.

On June 11, China’s State Council released its Legislative Work Plan for 2021 (unofficial English version). The plan aims to benchmark the socio-economic development goals and tasks from the 14th Five-Year Plan and strengthen legislation in key areas, with many of the same focal points of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Legislative Plan for 2021 released in April. This year, the State Council plans to submit 18 major draft laws and amendments to the NPC Standing Committee for...

With Congress working on a landmark proposal premised on competing with China—the US Innovation and Competition Act—it is helpful to understand exactly what powers the legislative branch has and how those levers run through US policy toward China.

On June 9, the Biden administration released the Executive Order on Protecting Americans’ Sensitive Data from Foreign Adversaries (EO), which aims to prevent foreign adversaries, China included, from leveraging apps and software to access sensitive information or enable human rights abuses. The EO does away with previous restrictions on Chinese apps while elaborating on the Information and Communication Technology and Services Supply Chain (ICTS) Executive Order, which empowers the executive...