US President Donald Trump describes the upcoming deal between China and the US to end the trade war as “comprehensive”. China veteran Mark Schaub sees only marginal changes and certainly disagrees with a report in Bloomberg saying that most foreign companies can now work without joint ventures. Most companies can and do so since the 1980s, he tells at the BBC. And he assumes that in industries where foreign investments are tough, like publishing, telecom, and education, changes will not be sensational, he tells at the BBC.

China is overhauling its now 30-years old regulations for cosmetics, a fast-growing industry of now 260 billion Renminbi (euro 34 billion). The new rules remove some of the red tape, says lawyer Mark Schaub, but also gives the authorities more leverage over the industry, he writes at the China Law Insight.

Some analysts see in the new Foreign Investment Law a way for China to placate the US, but China veteran Mark Schaub sees here no quick fix triggered off by the trade war. It is the first new foreign investment law since the Berlin Wall came down, he says to the BBC News Service.

For years the business community feared China’s central government would kill the so-called VIE’s (variable-interest entity). The tool to circumvent the country’s strict ownership regulations was never endorsed by the government but has also never been in serious trouble, tells China veteran and lawyer Mark Schaub to Bloomberg. The ban even did not show up in the draft foreign investment law, last week.

Equal treatment for foreign companies and a more open economy are just two of the positive issues China new foreign investment law offers, writes China veteran and lawyer Mark Schaub at the China Law Insight. The draft will be debated in the upcoming parliamentary conferences and includes a few interesting twists, including a revival of the VIEs (Variable Interest Entities)

China banned in September 2017 ICOs (Initial Coins Offerings) after some high-profile cases of fraud but certainly not block all blockchain activities. Lawyer Mark Schaub looks at the China Law Insight at how the government tries to regulate blockchain, one year after the initial ICO ban.

China has promised to open up its markets for foreign players, but most car makers keep up lining up for domestic partners. For good reasons, says London-based lawyer Mark Schaub, since domestic partners still have huge advantages, he tells in Bloomberg.

Digital transformation is key in the planning of companies, governments and individuals, as the world is changing beyond recognition. But for the world outside China it often remains unclear how the most innovative country is going to influence their digital future. 

Speakers at the China Speakers Bureau can help you to make sense out of this often disruptive change of the world. Here we bring together a group of leading experts on China and how its digital transformation is going to change the world outside China too.

Shanghai-based lawyer Mark Schaub leaves his current hometown to settle in London as a new partner of KWM London by August.

China is going to phase out restrictions on foreign ownership of the automotive industry over the next five year, president Xi Jinping announced earlier this year. Shanghai-based lawyer Mark Schaub summarizes the effects on the industry for the China Law Insight.