Announcements
09/12/2014
In May 2014, Alibaba, China’s leading e-commerce website, filed for a U.S.-based initial public offering (IPO) in what is expected to be one of the largest in U.S. history. The highly anticipated IPO will be just one in a recent wave of Chinese Internet companies launching IPOs in the United States. The trend has raised some misgivings among U.S. regulators about the corporate structures of these companies. To bypass Chinese government restrictions on foreign investment in the Internet sector, Chinese Internet companies use a complex and highly risky mechanism known as a Variable Interest Entity (VIE).
An addendum was added to this paper on September 12, 2014.
09/11/2014
This report examines 35 years of cooperation between the United States and China in the areas of science and technology (S&T) since the signing of the 1979 U.S.-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement.
09/11/2014
This report examines 35 years of cooperation between the United States and China in the areas of science and technology (S&T) since the signing of the 1979 U.S.-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement.
09/04/2014
Highlights of this month's edition: Bilateral trade: U.S. cumulative deficit with China through July $8.2 billion higher than last year, on track to break record; exports outpace imports by 3 percentage points; Bilateral policy issues: U.S. business associations slam Chinese antitrust crackdown as discriminatory; Chinese applicants dominate EB-5 investor visa program; Policy trends in China’s economy: China opens hospital ownership to foreign investors; and sector spotlight – Express delivery services: After years of delays, China grants foreign companies licenses to extend domestic express package delivery services.
08/06/2014
Highlights of this month’s edition
Bilateral trade: The U.S. June trade deficit in goods was the highest yet this year; although the U.S. surplus in services increased in the first quarter of 2014, the overall U.S. deficit is headed for another record; Bilateral policy issues: Latest S&ED sets a timeline for BIT negotiations, few other outcomes; WTO issues a mixed ruling in China’s challenge to U.S. countervailing duties; Ralls wins a limited legal victory in battle with CFIUS; Chinese investment in U.S. real estate jumps; Microsoft under investigation by Chinese antitrust authorities; Quarterly review of China’s economy: Momentum sustained despite housing slump; surge in exports and PMI; lack of rebalancing; corporate bond boom and new private banks; Beijing deepens ties with Latin America and co-establishes BRICS bank; and Sector spotlight – China’s meat industry: U.S. companies under fire in meat safety scandal; broader questions raised about China’s food regulation and discrimination against foreign companies.
07/11/2014
Since the Commission’s examination in 2008 of prison labor issues in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), there has been little substantive reduction in the scale and scope of China’s broad network of prison labor facilities. These facilities, led by local officials, continue to produce goods intended for export on a potentially large scale, in violation of U.S.-China agreements on the exports of prison labor goods to the United States. Although U.S. representatives in Beijing have continued to engage with their Chinese counterparts regarding suspected prison manufacturing facilities, the pattern of long delays and minimal cooperation by officials in the PRC Ministry of Prisons persists. Further, it is unclear whether the recent abolition of “reeducation through labor” (RTL) and reported release of up to tens of thousands of prisoners will have a significant impact on the prison labor system and export of prison labor products.
