An August 6 executive order that threatened to broadly restrict WeChat use forced many US companies to examine at a corporate level how they use WeChat in China and abroad. While restrictions released by the Department of Commerce on September 23 were limited to WeChat use in the United States and a subsequent preliminary injunction by the courts has delayed these restrictions, US companies continue to assess how they should manage WeChat use.
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September 22nd, 2020
Restrictions on both WeChat and TikTok which were originally scheduled to come into effect on September 20 have both been delayed. A court order on September 20 put WeChat restrictions on pause shortly before implementation due to concerns with inhibiting free speech under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. On September 19, the Department of Commerce announced that it would delay TikTok’s removal from US app stores for a week after President Trump approved “in concept” a deal for an...
September 21st, 2020
On September 19, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) published the final Provisions on the Unreliable Entity List (English available here), but so far has not released names of companies to be included on the list. The concept of the Unreliable Entity List (UEL) was introduced in May 2019 after Huawei was added to the United States’ Entity List and China has been foreshadowing its enactment since. While the UEL is seen as a response to recent US government export control actions, it also...
September 16th, 2020
Last month, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo resigned from his role leading the World Trade Organization (WTO) a full year before his second 4-year term was scheduled to end. Azevedo’s surprise announcement this spring underscored mounting dysfunction in the global trading system just as the massive economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of developing an international response were coming into focus. A new leader—to be selected this fall—will have the high-stakes task...
September 16th, 2020
On August 20, the State Cryptography Agency (SCA) released revised draft Commercial Cryptography Management Measures for public comment until September 19. An implementing regulation to last year’s Cryptography Law, this revision updates decades-old measures and raises fresh concerns regarding the scope of commercial cryptography technology subject to new compliance requirements. Depending on how these concerns are addressed by a final draft, foreign companies may find themselves being...
September 16th, 2020
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) named Xiao Yaqing (肖亚庆) as Party secretary and minister after former Minister Miao Yu (苗圩) reached the mandatory retirement age of 65. Xiao previously served as director of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), a super-regulator that oversees entity registration, food and drug safety, antitrust enforcement, intellectual property protection, and standards. USCBC’s Board of Directors met with Xiao last October in Beijing...
September 2nd, 2020
On August 5, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced expansions to the Trump administration’s Clean Network program, hinting at a potential future in which the internet and technology are divided along geopolitical lines. The overarching goal of the Clean Network program is to secure US personal information and ICT infrastructure from “malign actors” with an explicit focus on China. The program was originally announced as the 5G Clean Path Initiative on April 29. Clean Path promulgated that...
September 2nd, 2020
The US-China Business Council (USCBC) has been monitoring China’s Foreign Investment Law (FIL) and corresponding implementing regulations, both of which went into effect at the beginning of this year. On August 10, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress promulgated draft Shanghai Foreign Investment Regulations, which are open for comment until September 10. Shanghai is the first locality to implement its own set of specific implementing regulations for the FIL.
September 2nd, 2020
With China factoring more prominently in the 2020 presidential election, both Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump have accused the other of being too soft on China. The Democratic party platform and remarks by Biden so far indicate the former vice president would pursue a multilateral approach to China, working with like-minded partners to negotiate trade policies that are more in-line with global norms. However, Biden’s greater economic agenda—which is the cornerstone...
August 19th, 2020
Recent executive actions taken by the White House have provoked questions from US industry about their ability to continue leveraging important commercial mobile applications in the China market. On Thursday, August 6, the White House issued two executive orders (EOs) that would ban all transactions with ByteDance (the owner of TikTok ) and WeChat, two prominent Chinese mobile applications. Both orders cite national security risks posed by the collection of data on American citizens as well...
