The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China has found a litany of issues that obstruct European businesses in China, including weak IPR protection, opaque legislation and restrictive certification procedures..    more »

China will include a pilot emissions trading scheme in its next five-year plan for economic development. But western businesses and consultants hoping for guidance on the prospects for carbon trading in China will remain frustrated...    more »

China's telecoms market is poised to overtake Japan's by 2014. The prediction serves as a wake-up call for those western vendors for whom "Asia" has traditionally meant first and foremost Japan...    more »

Although it might seem counter-intuitive, China's manufacturing sector has emerged strengthened by the recent turmoil in global financial markets and the PRC is moving up fast on the services front as well...    more »

Foreign direct investment dropped once more in June, the ninth consecutive month in which FDI into China has registered a year-on-year fall. But those looking for green shoots can take some confort..    more »

The oil price has leaped more than 100% since February. Economists may scratch their heads, but in China the inexorably march upward of the oil price in the midst of a recession is cause for more than academic concern...    more »

One of the unifying characteristics of Chinese society is its propensity to save. That's not such good news for the global economy and, more specifically, for businesses whose prosperity depends on Chinese consumer spending...    more »

The USW union recently filed a trade case to stem the tide of cheap Made-in-China tyres into the US market. History shows that these sort of protectionist measures are difficult to justify and even more difficult to enforce...    more »

Foreign direct investment in China fell for the eighth consecutive month in May. Compared to May 2008, FDI dropped almost 18% to $6.4m while the number of new approved foreign companies also dropped, by a startling 32% to 1,649 ...   more »

Western giants are reining in their expansion plans in China in the face of continuing uncertainty as to the depth and length of the global recession. But longer term, their commitment seems as firm as it was back in the pre-Olympic era...   more »