China Issues Market-Entry Negative List And Publishes Draft Foreign Investment Law

Since late 2017, in the context of the escalating trade war between the United States and Chinese governments, Chinese political leaders have signaled that they are willing to address some of the issues that the U.S. and other governments had complained about. Their statements promised better protection of foreign investors' intellectual property rights, easing of market access restriction, equal access to government procurement and, generally, the creation of a level playing field. In late December 2018, the Chinese authorities took significant steps in this direction in advance of the bilateral Chinese-U.S. trade talks in Beijing during the week of January 7, 2019.