China’s announcement of a plan to establish Hainan as a free trade port (FTP) may present opportunities for companies to both sell into the market and use Hainan as a foothold to service the global market. Building upon Hainan’s establishment as a free trade zone in 2018, on June 1 this year, China’s Ministry of Justice released an extensive Overall Plan for the Construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port that aims to advance Hainan’s position in international trade, investment, and cross-border capital flows, eventually aiming for serious tariff reductions.

Following its first quarterly economic contraction in recent history, the Chinese government continues to take a relatively cautious approach to stimulating economic recovery. While economic activity picked up somewhat in April, China will likely spend the remainder of 2020 focused on stabilizing businesses and employment, but avoiding a 2008-style, credit-fueled infrastructure stimulus.

On April 26, China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) issued draft amendments to the Copyright Law for public comment until June 13. The original law was adopted in 1990 and the current version was last amended in 2010. The State Council solicited public comments on potential revisions to the law in 2012 and 2014, but revision efforts stalled after that. If passed in the current form and fully enforced, the amendments would improve the intellectual property environment in China for all companies. The draft could face an additional round of review this year and could be passed late this year or next.

Premier Li Keqiang closed out the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) today with a press conference. Though US-China tensions are running high following the NPC’s decision on Hong Kong legislation, Li championed US-China cooperation in his closing remarks. Over the course of the week, NPC delegates also determined the legislative agenda for 2020, which includes making progress on export controls, patent protection, and data security. 

Recent actions by the US Department of Commerce to further tighten restrictions for technology sales to Huawei and its chipmaker HiSilicon have rekindled fears that China may finally publish an Unreliable Entity List (UEL). In a report published shortly following Commerce’s actions to tighten US export control regulations, a Chinese tabloid linked to the government threatened that several US companies would soon be added to an imminent UEL in retaliation. 

The National People’s Congress (NPC) has started meeting, following a two-month delay. This meeting attracts some 3,000 legislators and officials from all over China to gather in one room in Beijing; it epitomizes confidence that China’s COVID-19 epidemic is under control for the time being. Four themes will dominate the session: (a) addressing the impact of COVID-19, (b) China’s global status in an era of US-China confrontation, (c) China’s 2020 economic growth trajectory, and (d) continued CCP supremacy and social stability.