China and U.S. working to stabilize business environment, Beijing says

BEIJING — China and the U.S. are working toward creating a more stable and predictable environment for businesses, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said Friday.

Since U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to China last summer, the two countries have agreed to hold regular meetings at the ministerial level and below. Wang and Raimondo had a call earlier this month.

That communication “strives to create a good environment for the two countries’ economic and trade cooperation, especially in stabilizing business expectations,” Wang said in Mandarin at a press conference, translated by CNBC.

He did not mention U.S. tech restrictions, but said sanctions bring business uncertainty and “greatly increase” compliance costs.

In the last two years, the Biden administration has issued export controls that limit the ability of Chinese companies to buy advanced tech such as high-end semiconductors from U.S. businesses. Washington has said it’s a way to keep China’s military from accessing cutting-edge tech, while maintaining areas of cooperation.

“We always believe that the common interests of China and the U.S. in economy and trade are far greater than their differences,” Wang said.

U.S. and other foreign businesses in China have long complained of challenges to doing business in the Asian country, such as unequal treatment of foreign companies compared to local players. More recently, international businesses have said Beijing’s vague rules around data transfer out of the country make operations difficult.

In the fall, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued new draft rules that said no government oversight is needed for data exports if regulators haven’t stipulated that it qualifies as “important.” The move was widely seen as an improvement for foreign businesses, but no…