In an apparent response to US export controls developments targeting Chinese tech companies like Huawei, China continues to suggest it could curtail supply of rare earths to US tech producers whose products depend on it.
China dominates the global rare earths market, but a supply cut could easily spill negative effects over to its domestic manufacturers and other trading partners.
The US Commerce Department has issued a report detailing measures for reducing US rare earths dependence, but none...
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June 5th, 2019
June 5th, 2019
The measures apply to Critical Information Infrastructure and network operators. They expand the authority of Chinese government regulators, reiterating requirements for network operators to comply with government requests for information on national security grounds.
Supply chain security emerged in several of the draft measures, likely as a direct response to recent US escalations in the trade dispute.
The measures, thought to have been on hold until after the conclusion of the trade...
June 5th, 2019
On May 17-19, the US-China Business Council’s (USCBC’s) Shanghai Chief Representative Owen Haacke led a delegation of 10 member companies to the 11th Central China Expo (CCE) in Nanchang, China. USCBC organized multiple meetings with vice governors of Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces.The group also met with Mr. Liu Dianxun, director-general of China Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA) of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), and also joined a roundtable with China’s Vice...
June 5th, 2019
Two weeks after China’s National People’s Congress passed the Foreign Investment Law (FIL), Premier Li Keqiang announced at the Bo’ao Forum in Hainan that China had begun crafting regulations to ensure that the FIL can land smoothly when it goes into effect on January 1, 2020. A variety of Chinese regulators are working to implement the FIL: China’s Ministry of Justice is leading the effort to update old regulations and issue specific rules in alignment with FIL principles and...
June 5th, 2019
The US-China Business Council held its 46th Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, DC, on June 4.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave the keynote address on 40 years of US-China relations. Other speakers included Wendy Cutler from the Asia Society, Susan Thornton from the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School, Damien Ma from the Paulson Institute, Dali Yang from the University of Chicago, Cheng Li from the Brookings Institution, Roy Kamphausen from the...
June 3rd, 2019
China Announces an Unreliable Entity List
China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Friday announced it would establish an “unreliable entity list” for foreign entities and persons who cause serious damage to Chinese companies by cutting off supplies for “non-commercial” reasons. The action appears to take aim at the US Entities List, to which Huawei was recently added, and the recent executive order on purchases of foreign technology products. While the details of how companies will...
May 22nd, 2019
Several US-China Business Council (USCBC) member companies are looking closer at planning visas both to the United States and China to avoid disruptions to their regular business operations. Changes to US visa policies and processing times have impacted company planning, and companies should make sure to plan all business travel far in advance.
Changes to US visa processing times and policies:
Processing times: Processing times for US visa applications in...May 22nd, 2019
On the same day that China hiked tariff rates on $60 billion of US goods, it created a process allowing companies to apply for products to be excluded from additional tariffs.
Although the exclusion process incorporates many of USCBC recommendations, several aspects of the process leave more to be desired.
Whether China grants an exclusion for a given product will ultimately depend on political factors which are unpredictable at this time.
On May 13, the State Council Customs...
May 22nd, 2019
Huawei was recently placed on the US Entity List, which bars US companies from selling or transferring technologies to the Chinese telecom company on national security grounds.
The United States has provided a temporary waiver to US companies to continue some of their business transactions with Huawei until August 19.
The United States has embarked on a global effort to warn allies about the security risks about Huawei’s equipment, but its strategy has yet to produce the desired result....
May 22nd, 2019
Several policies affecting foreign companies may be revised this year, including the Copyright, Export Control, and Solid Waste laws, as well as regulations on cybersecurity, tax, health, and financial services.
Implementing regulations for the Foreign Investment Law are on the agenda and are expected to be finalized before the law is enacted in January 2020, though the agenda provides no indication of what policies this may include.
The National People’s Congress legislative agenda, which...