At the conclusion of its annual session on March 15, the National People’s Congress (NPC) passed the Foreign Investment Law (FIL). The law was fast-tracked as part of efforts to appease the US in the ongoing trade negotiations. To ensure the law gets passed quickly, legislators scrapped some of the thornier issues in a previous draft, and instead passed a relatively vague piece of legislation. The practical implications of the law are, therefore, still unknown. At his press conference on March 15, though, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that foreign businesses can expect clarity soon. He said“The government will introduce a series of matching regulations and directives to protect the rights and interests of foreign investors” reiterating that “These will be the important things for the government to do in the following weeks and months to see that this law will be truly operable.”
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