China's draft foreign investment law promises a more open economy - Mark Schaub

Mark Schaub

Equal treatment for foreign companies and a more open economy are just two of the positive issues China new foreign investment law offers, writes China veteran and lawyer Mark Schaub at the China Law Insight. The draft will be debated in the upcoming parliamentary conferences and includes a few interesting twists, including a revival of the VIEs (Variable Interest Entities)

Mark Schaub:

The key issues addressed in the draft law include prohibition against forcing technology transfers; providing equal treatment and market access to foreign companies (except for certain sectors specified on a negative list) but also reserving China’s right to retaliate against companies from countries which discriminate against Chinese investors. 

However, it is instructive that the very first article of this draft law articulates its intended purpose to further open up the Chinese economy and actively boost foreign investment... 

Two other interesting provisions in this new draft include granting foreign companies equal treatment and participation in government procurement activities and also specifically reiterating that foreign invested companies are allowed to conduct onshore China financing via IPOs or other securities offerings. Foreign companies have often faced discrimination in terms of government procurement as various state owned entities and institutions issue guidelines that limited suppliers to selected companies or requirements to fulfill which almost inevitably meant only a domestic enterprise could be selected.

More at the China Law Insight.

Mark Schaub is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Are you looking for more experts on the trade war between China and the US? Do check out this list.

Carrots and sticks for China´s military - Wendell Minnick

Wendell Minnick

A tough fight against corruption and a firm increase of their budget. President Xi Jinping is using both sticks and carrots to get the powerful military establishment into line, writes defense analyst Wendell Minnick in Defense News.

Wendell Minnick:

China's 2015 defense budget increase could reflect political strategy by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is pushing the military to swear loyalty to the Communist Party while he arrests military leaders on corruption charges, according to an expert. 

China's official news service, Xinhua, announced that the defense increase was still the "lowest growth in five years as the country confronts mounting pressure in the face of an economic slowdown." The Chinese government is struggling with a debt crisis, a real estate bubble and massive corruption. The National People's Congress (NPC) announced that the government was lowering its growth target to 7 percent for 2015, the lowest in 15 years. 

China raised 2015 defense spending by 10.1 percent compared with 2014 to US $141.5 billion. NPC spokeswoman Fu Ying made the announcement during the annual NPC in Beijing on March 4. This marks the 26th time China's defense budget has seen nominal double-digit increases since 1989. 

"In China, defense spending increases have become sacrosanct," said Richard Bitzinger, coordinator of the military transformations program at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. "I suppose the bigger surprise would've been if they had not increased the budget by so much."

More in Defense News

Wendell Minnick is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you looking for more political experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check our recent list here.  

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Has China's internet returned to 'normal'? - China Weekly Hangout

Beijing March 2011 (Photo credit: Remko Tanis)

The controls on China's internet have always been a nuisance - especially for those working on international business from China. But during the past months, trouble increased, supposedly because of the power transition from the Hu Jintao to the Xi Jinping team, during the party congress and the March' National People's Congress. In December we even hosted a +China Weekly Hangout   about VPN's, as China's censors seemed to target more actively those workarounds of the censorship.
The frustration grew and the troubled internet connections popped up regularly as one of the reason for people to leave China. Of course, never was the filtered internet the only reason, but for people like internet entrepreneur +Marc van der Chijs it was certainly one.
But Xi Jinping is now in place, the meetings are over, so the question is whether the internet is back to 'normal', as far as China has a normal internet. We are looking for your input.

The +China Weekly Hangout will discuss the current state of China's internet, and we might even speculate on what we can expect in the near future, as loosening media controls, and checks on the internet, does not seem to be on the agenda.
We are looking for people who have on the ground experience with the internet, and can help us to piece together a picture for the near future. Are you interested? You can register to participate at our event page here.
The hangout will be held on Thursday 25 April, 10pm Beijing Time, 4pm CEST (Europe) and 10pm EST (US/Canada)
You can watch the event here, on our event page and on YouTube, if you do not participate directly. Until the event you can send questions and remarks by leaving a comment here, or at our event page. During the event you can leave messages via Twitter, Google+ and our YouTube channel (do add the hash tag #CWHCWH).
For some good background, you can read a special of +The Economist on the internet in China or listen to the Sinica Podcast with auther +Gady Epstein, interviewed by +Kaiser Kuo and +Jeremy Goldkorn.



The previously announced hangout on North Korea has been postponed, as the current crisis seems to have fizzled out a bit. But we are sure we might get new opportunities.

On December 20, 2012 the +China Weekly Hangout discussed the problems with VPN's with +Sam Xu, +John R. Otto and +Gabriel Rüeck. Moderation was in the hands of +Fons Tuinstra of the +China Speakers Bureau.

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