TECH

Commercial War: China Now Wants To Play Clean With US
At the end of the annual session of the National People's Congress (ANP), 2,929 MPs voted in favor of the new legislation, while eight opposed and eight others abstained.
The ANP is the "supreme body of state power in China" and the "ultimate expression of socialist democracy," but its about 3,000 delegates are not directly elected and the "leading role" of the Chinese Communist Party (PCC) is "a cardinal principle".
The bill was first introduced to the legislature in 2015, but Chinese authorities only accelerated its approval in the second half of 2018 as Beijing entered a trade war with Washington, driven by Chinese industrial policies.
The regulations, which enter into force in early 2020, also establish a "negative list", meaning that any sectors that are not declared closed to foreign capital are automatically open to investment.
The previous regime required Beijing to designate an industry as "open to investment" before a non-Chinese company could participate, a clause long criticized by the United States and the European Union.
ANP President Li Zhanshu called the "fundamental law" "to promote a high-level opening in this new era."
"We must thoroughly study this law and put it into practice to facilitate the investment," he added.
According to the official Xinhua news agency, the approval of the law "demonstrates the country's determination to achieve a new stage of high-level opening."
"The goal is to improve the transparency of foreign investment policies and ensure that domestic and foreign companies are subject to unified rules and compete on equal terms," ​​he added.
In a statement, the US Chamber of Commerce in China welcomed the new legal framework, but regretted that there was no international consultation process: "We are concerned ... that legislation as important, and potentially will be promulgated without broad consultation and stakeholder input. "
The new law comes after Beijing give the country's security forces more power over civil society, telecommunications, Internet and foreign activity.
William Zarit, former advisors on trade affairs at the US embassy, ​​says the new legislation is "vague in terms of definitions and national security." Washington and Brussels often criticize Beijing for the forced transfer of technology, subsidies to domestic firms, and regulatory obstacles that protect Chinese groups from foreign competition.
Beijing's industrial policies, seen as "predatory", have already sparked a trade war with the US, with Donald Trump imposing customs duties on $ 250 billion worth of goods imported from China.
The US has also pressed several countries, including Portugal, to exclude Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in building infrastructure for Fifth Generation (5G) networks, the Internet of the future.
Beijing wants to turn the country into a technological powerhouse with capabilities in high added value sectors such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy, robotics and electric cars.
The US believes that those industrial plans, driven by the Chinese state, violate China's commitments to open its market. Washington fears it will lose its industrial dominance to a strategic rival on the rise. Washington and Brussels often criticize Beijing for the forced transfer of technology, subsidies to domestic firms, and regulatory obstacles that protect Chinese groups from foreign competition.
Beijing's industrial policies, seen as "predatory", have already sparked a trade war with the US, with Donald Trump imposing customs duties on $ 250 billion worth of goods imported from China.
The US has also pressed several countries, including Portugal, to exclude Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in building infrastructure for Fifth Generation (5G) networks, the Internet of the future.
Beijing wants to turn the country into a technological powerhouse with capabilities in high added value sectors such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy, robotics and electric cars.
The US believes that those industrial plans, driven by the Chinese state, violate China's commitments to open its market. Washington fears it will lose its industrial dominance to a strategic rival on the rise. Lusa Agency