Jurisdiction

It is well-known that doing business in East Asian countries such as China requires the building up of guanxi which inevitably involves bribery and corruption. The US Government is stepping up enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in Asia, and China is "by far the single most involved country in FCPA matters". A number of US companies have been penalised since 2002 for pay bribes, financing travels or giving gifts to Chinese government officials. With over 500 of the more than 800 Chinese nationals accused of embezzling more than 70 billion yuan who had fled overseas still at large, China is also strengthening cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies and international watchdogs.

Diplomatic Protection

State Responsibility

The Chinese Government "raised a solemn representation" with North Korea after North Korean border guards shot dead three Chinese citizens and wounded one along the Yalu River, apparently suspecting them of illegal trade across the border. North Korea called it an "accidental incident" and undertook to severely punish the border guards responsible for the shooting.

Trade

In its biennial review of China's trade policy, the WTO criticised China's extensive restrictions on its own exports, which China justified as measures to protect the environment and balance China's trade. WTO pointed out that export restraints may put a downward pressure on the domestic prices of these products, thereby giving "implicit assistance to domestic downstream processors of the targeted products."