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CHINA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
NEWSLETTER
The Ministry of Science and Technology
People's Republic of China
N0.282 January 10,2002
IN THIS ISSUE
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* 1150 Chinese By-laws Revised
* China’s Major Priorities for
Foreign Capital Utilization
* Regulations on Managing Foreign Law Firms in
China
* Chinese Accounting
System for Foreign Businesses
*
Chinese Medical Achievements
*
China's Proprietary Optic-fiber Preparation Bar
* Rats’ Nerve Reproduction
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POLICY
AND REGULATION
1150 Chinese By-laws Revised
Starting from January 1st, 2002, a number of
newly formulated or revised administrative by-laws related
to trade activities such as Regulations on Technology Import
and Export Management, Regulations on Anti-dumping,
Regulations on Anti-Subsidizing and etc. will come into
effect. These new or revised by-laws will constitute part of
China’s promise on its accession to WTO.
Other administrative by-laws that will
also come into force on the same day include
Regulations on Veterinarian Drugs, Regulations on Pesticides
Management, Regulations on Feeds and Feed Additives,
Regulations on Goods Import and Export Management,
Regulations on Foreign Investment in Telecommunication
Enterprises, Regulations on Travel Agency Management,
Regulations on International Ocean-going Shipping,
Regulations on Foreign Invested Insurance Company
Management, Regulations on Management of Representative
Offices of Foreign Law Firms in China, Regulations
on Protection Measures, and Regulations on By-laws and
Regulations Archival.
Since the end of 1999,
China has been doing house-keeping job on its old laws,
administrative by-laws, regulations and other policy
oriented measures related to trade activities. As shown by
the house keeping result, there are 1,150 laws,
administrative by-laws, regulation and other policies
calling for formulation, revision or revocation.
Up to date, the Chinese People’s Congress
and its Standing Committee have worked out or revised 9 laws
including Law on Chinese-Foreign Joint Equity Ventures, Law
on Chinese-Foreign Cooperation Ventures, Law on Foreign
Invested Enterprises, Patent Law, Trademark Law and
Copyright Law. The Chinese State Council has formulated or
revised 25 administrative by-laws such as Details for
Implementing Law on Foreign Invested Enterprises,
Regulations on Technology Import and Export Management and
Regulations on Protection Measures, revoked 12
administrative by-laws such as Methods on Chinese Bank
Providing Loans to Foreign Invested Enterprises, Interim
Regulations on Management of Major Productive Means and
Transportation Pricing and etc., and suspended the
enforcement of 34 other policy oriented measures. The State
Council has now kept working on formulation, revision and
revocation of its by-laws and the Chinese Ministry of
Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation has announced the
revocation of the first 249 regulations and is expected to
announce the second revocation of about 100 regulations in
the near future.
The newly revised laws and
administrative by-laws have changed the provisions not in
line either with WTO’s requirements or with
China’s promise thus made such as in Law on
Chinese-Foreign Joint Equity Ventures, Law on
Chinese-Foreign Cooperation Ventures, Law on Foreign
Invested Enterprises and Regulations on Chinese-Foreign
Cooperative Land-based Oil Resources Exploitation and
Regulations on Chinese-Foreign Cooperative Marine Oil
Resources Exploitation, deleted the original requirements
for trade balance, foreign exchange balance and local
proportion imposed on foreign investors. China’s
accession to WTO implies China’s further opening of
its service market. However, such an opening will be made
and implemented under proper regulations. In this context,
the State Council has formulated and revised a number of
management oriented by-laws regulating foreign investment
into Chinese service market such as Regulations on Foreign
Invested Insurance Company Management and Regulations on
Foreign Invested Telecommunication Enterprises. In the
course of the said efforts, the State Council also revised
its Regulations on Anti-Dumping and Regulations on
Anti-Subsidizing and worked out Regulations on Protection
Measures so as to develop China itself while observing the
principle of rights and obligations and fulfilling its
obligations to WTO.
China’s Major
Priorities for Foreign Capital Utilization
The
State Development Planning Commission has on December 24,
2001, published its outlines for foreign capital utilization
and overseas investment in the 10th Five-Year Plan
period(2001-2005), for the purposes of active and rational
utilization of foreign capital, promoting China’s
sustainable economic growth and full fledged social progress
and further stimulating its opening to the outside world.
The Outlines provides that China shall see
five changes in its foreign capital utilization pattern,
namely changes from import of foreign capital to import of
foreign advanced technologies, modernized management and
special expertise; the fields of foreign capital utilization
will be further extended from processing to
service industries; the modes of foreign capital utilization
will direct in multiple channel based capital absorption
surrounding direct foreign investment; and governmental
management of foreign capital utilization will change from
administrative approval to law and regulation based guiding,
steering and supervision.
The official of the
State Development Planning Commission points out that China
will focus its attention on the following seven major
priorities for attracting more foreign capital:
1. While absorbing direct foreign investment,
due attention shall be paid to the promotion of further
development of foreign capital utilization;
2.
Guide foreign investment in a positive direction of
promoting domestic industrial restructuring and associated
optimization and upgrading. Revise and publish the
Regulations on Foreign Investment Guidance and Guiding
Catalog for Foreign Invested Industries in due time;
3. Meet new challenges of China’s
accession to WTO, promoting the opening of service
industries on a phased basis, including scheduled opening of
services industries such as banking, insurance, stock
exchanges, commerce, telecommunication and tourism;
4. Relentlessly introduce
transnationals’ investment modes and other foreign
capital attraction modes, promoting the strategic
transformation of state-owned enterprises;
5.
Vigorously expand foreign capital utilization in the middle
and the west regions, promoting the coordinate regional
development;
6. Utilize foreign loans in a
rational manner, improving quality and benefits;
7. Strengthen full caliber foreign debts
control, improving foreign debts servicing mechanism.
The official of the State Development Planning
Commission expresses that during the 10th Five- Year Plan
period, China will perfect its policies and by-laws on
foreign capital utilization and overseas investment, further
promoting all-round, multiple-leveled and broader opening to
the outside world.
Regulations on Managing
Foreign Law Firms in China
The Regulations on
Management of Representative Offices of Foreign Law Firms
publicized by the Chinese State Council will see the
enforcement from January 1st, 2002. The Regulations are made
up of 35 articles in 6 chapters including general
objectives, the establishment of representative office,
changes and cancellation, business scope and regulations,
supervision and management, legal liabilities and
appendixes.
The Regulations provide that when
establishing a representative office or dispatching its
permanent representative, the foreign law firm shall apply
for the approval of legal authorities under the State
Council. Foreign law firms or other overseas organizations
or individual shall not engage in legal service and
activities on China’s territories in the name of
consultation firm or other possible names. The name of the
foreign representative office shall be titled as
“ Representative Office of
××× Law Firm (the Chinese version of the law
firm applying for the establishment of its representative
office) in ××× City (the name of the Chinese
city).
As provided, such
representative offices and their representatives
are only allowed to engage in activities in the following
five areas that are not related to the Chinese legal
affairs: providing consultations on state laws and
international treaties or norms by qualified attorneys of
foreign law firms; entrusted by the parties or Chinese law
firms, handling legal affairs in the country where the
foreign law firm is physically located; entrusting Chinese
law firms to handle Chinese legal affairs entrusted by
foreign parties; establishing long-term consignment
relationship for handling legal affairs with Chinese law
firms through contracts, providing information related to
Chinese legal environment and associated implications.
The Regulations also provide that foreign
representative offices shall not recruit Chinese attorney in
practice and local assistants thus hired shall not provide
any legal service to the parties. When providing
their legal services according to the Chinese laws, foreign
representative offices and their representatives shall be
under the protection of the Chinese law.
Chinese Accounting System for Foreign
Businesses
The Chinese Ministry of Finance
recently issued a circular to the effect that from January
1st, 2002, foreign invested businesses in China shall
observe the Enterprises' Accounting System published by the
Ministry in 2000.
Experts pointed out that the
said requirement would be good for increasing the
transparency of foreign invested businesses' accounting
information, regulating their accounting system and
disclosing their procedures so as to protect the legal
interests of the parties.
Since 1992, foreign
businesses in China have long been working under Foreign
Invested Businesses' Accounting System regulated by China.
China's strong economic growth has made the system outdated
in a number of aspects such as assets appraisal, income
determination and etc., calling for necessary changes.
Foreign Investment in China's Travel Industry
Sun Gang, Deputy Administrator of China
National Travel Agency recently expressed that China's
schedule for absorbing foreign investment in its tourist
industry will be advanced by allowing foreign investors to
take the majority equity in joint ventures for tourism and
to open their branches in 2002.
According to
China's promises on its accession to WTO, China's tourist
industry will gradually loosen its restrictions on
equity proportions between Chinese and foreign partners in
joint ventures by allowing foreign investors' dominant
equity in joint ventures before the end of 2003 and allowing
the establishment of solely foreign funded travel agency in
China before the end of 2005. Sun Gang added that China
would accelerate the progress for opening its tourist
industry through jointly establishing joint venture tourist
businesses with renowned multinational travel services in
the U.S., Europe and Japan and advancing its schedule for
allowing foreign investors' majority equity to 2002.
It is reported that there have currently been
9 joint venture natured travel agencies in China with 4 in
Beijing, 2 in Guangdong and 1 in Yunnan, Tianjin and Gansu
respectively. The Express Travel Agency, a joint venture
between China National Travel Agency and US Express Travel
Agency recently approved for its establishment is the first
of China’s cooperation with an internationally
renowned travel business, marking a new phase for foreign
investment in China’s tourist industry.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Chinese
Medical Achievements
China has witnessed the
major breakthroughs in key technologies R and D in the field
of biotechnology and medicine and health during the 9th
Five-Year Plan period, and over 500 achievements during the
said 5 years. Of them nearly a hundred were granted with
awards at national or ministerial level. These results have
led to a thousand and odd domestic patent applications and a
hundred and more international patent application,
the birth of a large number of R and D oriented enterprises
with RMB 10 billion and more for their output volume, which
promotes the fast growth of China’s modernization
process of traditional medicine and biomedicine, and
biomedical engineering industry. In addition, human genome
project has seen series progresses.
Human
genome charts and preliminary analysis have been publicized
with China’s “1% Program” due completed
two years in advance. Chinese scientists have for
the first time in the world completed full gene based
accurate sequencing of a number of microbes such as
Leptospira, staphylococcus epidermidis, thermophilic
bacteria, shigella flexneri, which are important for
improving the understanding of diseases triggering mechanism
and development of medical vaccines.
R and D
of new drugs also witnessed significant progress. For
example, China’s first proprietary national class-one
new drug bycycloheptanol developed by Drugs Institute under
the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences has been applied to
treating chronic viruses hepatitis and granted with
invention patent in 15 countries and regions including US.
China’s discovery of new diseases has
drawn the world’s attention. Shanghai Life Research
Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Southern
Research Center of National Human Genome and Shanghai
Jiaotong University have jointly for the first time in the
world discovered class-one permanent tooth deficiency. The
said genetic disease named after the Chinese surnames as
“He-Zhao Deficiency” was collected by the
Catalog on Human Mendal Genetic Diseases and commonly used
internationally. Another example is the deadly skin disease
firstly reported by Jingxi Hospital under No. 4 Military
Medical School. This skin disease has been proved related to
a special actionmyces, and it has been temporarily named as
bacteria based deadly granuloma on external wounds.
New medical breakthroughs are of great
significance. The experiments and studies of surgical
treatment of liver and gall stones and their complications
have led to the improvement of long-term treatment result
from 10% to 87.1% with applications of different surgical
treatment means tailored to different causes. The said
achievement has been granted with the first prize of
National SandT Progress Award. Prof. Shu Siyun with the
Neurology Institute of No. 1 Military Medical School
discovered a new section related to learning and memory
functions in human brain which made him the first person in
the world discovering marginal area in corpus striatum.
Scientists of the Chinese Military 304 Hospital
published their papers in the internationally renowned
medical journal Blades, reporting for the first time in the
world the discovery of the existence of inverse division of
skin cells when applying cuticular growth element to
treating skin ulcer.
China's Proprietary
Optic-fiber Preparation Bar
On December 27,
2001, Hangzhou based Futong Group declared that they had
mastered the core technology of today's optic-fiber industry
and successfully turned out China's proprietary optic-fiber
preparation bar with the latest FSVD technology.
On the basis of advanced techniques and
facilities introduced from abroad, Futong Group integrated
different techniques for manufacturing optic-fiber
preparation bar and worked out its own proprietary FSVD.
The said latest technology in the world can
directly make large optic-fiber preparation bar from raw
materials and is of numerous merits such as high efficiency
and fast manufacturing, stable technical process and low
cost.
Rats’ Nerve Reproduction
It is reported that not long ago researchers
of No. 9 People’s Hospital under Shanghai No. 2
Medical University successfully planted Schwann cells that
grew in a large quantity on the body of animals onto special
biological absorbent fibers and reproduced artificial open
nerves containing Schwann cells in non-tube shape.
The said artificial nerves were successfully used to repair
the 15mm sciatic nerve deficiency, landing a breakthrough
against the traditional concept that nerve bridging
materials should be in tube forms. The results have shown
that the artificial nerves are of high simulation,
reasonable 3-D structures and tissue compatibility.
The successful reproduction of rat’s nerves
is of important theoretical significance and clinic
application values to further studies of nerve bridging
materials.
China’s Remote Sensing
Archaeology Lab
A so-called remote sensing
archaeology lab was recently founded by the Institute of
Remote Sensing under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the
East China Normal University and the Chinese History Museum.
The said development has marked a new phase for China's S
and T based archaeological activities as well as a new era
for studying China’s civilization history with modern
technologies.
Remote sensing based archaeology
is a comprehensive research approach viewing the discipline
through different angles such as remote sensing data
acquisition, image processing, remote sensing archaeology,
underground no-injury sounding, submarine archaeology and
analysis of paleogeographic environment and GIS based relics
management.
The Lab will undertake major
remote sensing based archaeological projects assigned by
both the central government and local authorities while it
will gradually turn itself into an influential national base
for such studies, and a base for international exchanges and
high caliber personnel training. The Lab will, according to
different natural conditions and cultural relics, set up its
working stations in Henan, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei and
Sichuan along with its assigned scientific activities.
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