Both Chinese and international press outlets have reported on the meeting AmCham-China held with Secretary Leavitt earlier this week.

He discussed the two new ‘Memorandum of agreement’ (MOA) documents signed with the PRC government as part of the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) and Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). Secretary Leavitt also presented the Action Plan for Import Safety: A roadmap for continual improvement, which was developed by the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety and was presented to President George Bush.

Read a report in English from China Daily and in Chinese from China News.

Finance Minister Xie Xuren Sunday warned of a “rising trend of trade protectionism in the US” that may do “serious harm” to Sino-US economic and trade ties. Xie made the remarks on the eve of the Third China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), which is slated to start on Wednesday in Beijing. It is an annual meeting to ease frictions and problems in trade affairs and will be attended by many high-profile officials from both sides. A delegation consisting of nine Cabinet-level officials headed by US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are meeting with a Chinese team led by Vice-Premier Wu Yi and many ministers, Xie said. US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt are among the US delegation.

Finance Minister Xie Xuren’s comments were reported by Hexun and are available in the AmCham-China Wire.

Secretary Leavitt met with AmCham-China members and held a press conference today. Notes from the meeting are available on the AmCham site.

Rio Tinto is prepared to consider approaches from China after it was reported that the country’s largest steelmaker was planning an offer that could value Rio at more than $200b. Chief executive Tom Albanese said recently that the company is “listening, but not engaged” in talks with the Chinese government and steelmakers, who are the largest customers for Rio’s Australian iron ore mines. However, the company is understood to have softened its position and is now prepared to talk if a formal offer at a large enough price is forthcoming. Get more details about the discussions in the AmCham-China Wire.

Earlier this week, China released the draft version of a long-awaited energy law, calling for more environmentally-friendly energy policies and a more market-based pricing mechanism. The law aims to “construct a stable, economical, clean and sustainable energy supply and service system, increase energy efficiency and safeguard energy security,” says the draft posted on a government agency website. The AmCham-China Wire reports that the the law was published on the website of the Office of the National Energy Leading Group, an elite policy-making body, and will solicit opinions from the public until Feb. 1, 2008.

Washington and Beijing on Thursday (Nov. 29) resolved a dispute over government subsidies to Chinese industry, averting a long legal battle at the WTO. The US said the agreement represented a victory for its policy of vigorously pursuing trade disputes with China through a variety of legal avenues.

An official at the Chinese mission in Geneva denied that the agreement represented a total climbdown by Beijing. The official said that some of the subsidies had already been repealed and some were due for repeal under a new income tax law for enterprises. Get more on the story and a link to a Chinese report on AmCham-China’s site.

China’s Ministry of Commerce issued an urgent circular banning time-limited sales promotions in shops following a deadly stampede at a Carrefour outlet. Nov. 12, Beijing municipal government launched a check of big chain stores and supermarkets in Beijing. Four kinds of problems exist in most stores in Beijing. Find out what these problems are, according to the Ministry, as published in the AmCham-China Wire.

The People’s Government of Beijing’s Chaoyang District (PGBCD)  AmCham-China marked the one-year anniversary of the “Chaoyang Model Anti-Copyright Infringement and Piracy-Free Zone” on November 20. The goal of the project is to protect legitimate markets, promote the merits of genuine products, and increase the awareness of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.  AmCham-China member companies News Corp/20th Century Fox, Microsoft, NBC-Universal, Time Warner, and Warner Bros participated in the effort.  Several public outreach and educational campaigns emphasizing the importance of respecting IPR were successfully implemented during the first year.

David Kay from Microsoft China spoke at the event marking the anniversary and said there is a many pronged strategy to fight against IPR infringements. He said the first year’s cooperation efforts focused on   education and publicity, legitimate distribution channels,  coordinated law enforcement efforts, and attention from both China and the U.S.

David Kay’s speech and AmCham-China’s press release about the event can be found on the AmCham site.

China has drafted executive regulations for a new corporate income tax law that will ‘harmonize’ the domestic and foreign rates. The final draft, which came out of the Second International Taxation Summit 2007 recently held in Shanghai, has been submitted to the State Council for approval. The results are expected to be announced next month. The AmCham-China Wire has details on the proposed rates.

A select group of  China-based senior executives from top U.S. companies attended a private briefing to discuss the potential impact of the 17th Party Congress leadership changes to the investment and business environment in China.Speaking at the briefing titled “AmCham-China Briefing & Roundtable Re: Impact of Party Congress and Leadership Changes on the Investment Environment,” were governmental issues experts from the Public Affairs Department of Powell Tate, the public affairs arm of Weber Shandwick. 

Brad Jaffe, vice president for  China affairs at Powell Tate, and John Russell, executive vice president for Asia Pacific and Beijing lead the thought-provoking discussion.

They spoke about topics of vital importance to those doing business in China including the shift of growth to the service sector, the further development of the high-tech sector, the attempts to build Chinese MNCs, and the evolving role of SOEs and NDRC. 

A digital copy of the presentation is available for AmCham-China members. 

Squire Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. and AmCham-China co-hosted the October 25 briefing and roundtable, which was attended by 20 senior business executives.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently released an unofficial English translation of the National Development and Reform Commission’s  (NDRC) Catalogue Guiding Foreign Investment in Industry. This copy, courtesy of the U.S. Chamber, is available on the  AmCham-China site for members only. 

Compiled by the (NDRC), the catalog provides information about areas where the Chinese government is currently encouraging foreign investment and provides insight into further areas of growth. AmCham-China members should take note of the sectors where foreign investment is welcomed or restricted because it may affect how business is done in China in the future. A pdf of the Chinese-language version of the catalog is also available. 

The NDRC is a macroeconomic management agency under the State Council of the PRC, which studies and formulates policies for economic and social development, maintains a balance of economic aggregates, and guides the overall economic system restructuring.