Rachel Farmer

On August 29, Jake Sullivan concluded his first trip to China as national security advisor, where he met with several senior Chinese officials as part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication between Washington and Beijing.

China’s financial regulators have their work cut out for them. Against the backdrop of a three-year bear market, a backlog of initial public offerings (IPOs), and an ongoing anti-corruption campaign, Chinese policymakers are pushing ahead with industry reforms to improve the quality and openness of China’s capital markets.

On June 21, the US Department of the Treasury issued a highly anticipated draft rule aimed at curbing the flow of US capital into sensitive, dual-use technologies in China. The rule, once implemented, will enact novel filing requirements—and, in certain cases, prohibitions—for US corporations and investors that seek to conduct investment activities in a defined range of technologies, which includes semiconductors, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence (AI).

On May 17, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) introduced several new incentives for people to buy homes, including scrapping minimum interest rates on mortgages for new and pre-owned homes, and reducing the minimum down payment ratio for first-home buyers from 20 percent to 15 percent and for second homes from 30 percent to 25 percent. These are the lowest ratios since mortgages were introduced in 1992.