Interviews with leading thinkers on China
Dr. Dan Wang is China director for Eurasia Group, specializing in China’s economy, industrial policy, and geopolitics. She previously served as the chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China based in Shanghai, responsible for macroeconomic forecasting and capital market analysis.
Thank you to all who partnered on and joined our Jubilee Gala in Washington last week, as well as those who were a part of our 50th anniversary galas in Beijing and Shanghai earlier this year. I was honored to be in the company of so many members, USCBC alum, friends, China scholars, and officials from both the United States and China.
Last week, the Select Committee on the CCP approved a report that included more than 100 recommendations on trade and economic policy. If enacted, these recommendations would drastically change the US-China commercial relationship.
From December 11 to 12, China held its Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), an annual agenda-setting moment for China’s economic policy for the upcoming year. As in past years, the meeting was chaired by President Xi Jinping.
China has seen several high-level personnel changes at the central and provincial levels over the last few months. Notably, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) voted to remove Li Shangfu from his position as China’s defense minister.
House and Senate lawmakers unveiled the compromise version of the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last week after weeks of negotiations. The NDAA, the annual legislation that authorizes funding the Department of Defense, has become a key yearly vehicle for pushing through China policy priorities, including those not related to defense.
During the final week of November, the US and Chinese governments separately unveiled new iterations of their respective strategies to attract investment and strengthen supply chains. The Biden administration held an inaugural meeting of the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience, and at the same time, senior Chinese policymakers and domestic and foreign companies gathered in Beijing to attend a five-day supply chain expo and policy forum.
On Saturday, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo participated in the Reagan National Defense Forum, where she emphasized the need for the United States to remain the global leader in critical technologies like semiconductors. She urged Congress to increase the budget for the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and make the export control enforcement office “more muscular.”
The last few months have seen multiple developments affecting US companies that operate in the transportation industry. The US Department of Treasury released long-awaited proposed guidance on the clean vehicle provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act.
On Wednesday, lawmakers convened for the first full conference committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA is one of the last must-pass bills left on the ledger this year, and there is friction between the Senate-approved version that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in July and the House version, which passed along party lines and includes more politically charged provisions.
In the last year, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) adjusted its rules for cross-border data transfers (CBDT) in what appears to be a slowly loosening government approach to managing data flows. However, given that many fundamental regulations remain in draft form and key terms remain undefined, the change in approach has not yet materialized into lighter compliance burdens for companies.
