Foreign investors in Chinese industries from defence to tech will from next year face an extra layer of scrutiny to ensure their activities do not undermine national security, the country's top economic planner said Saturday.

Under the new rules, overseas investment in Chinese industries related to the military will automatically be reviewed.

But forays into agriculture, energy, transport, internet and financial services will only face a review if they involve the acquisition of 50 percent of a Chinese company, or will significantly affect the business.

Investors in those cases must submit to a government review determining whether their moves "affect national security", according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which did not specify what activities would be seen as having such an effect.

The announcement comes nearly a year after China's new foreign investment law came into force, promising to give local and foreign companies equal treatment in the Chinese market.

The NDRC said the rules, which will take effect on January 18, were intended to "effectively prevent and dissolve national security risks while actively promoting foreign investment".

China said Friday it was in the last stretch of talks on a landmark investment agreement with the European Union that would allow the bloc's member states greater access to the lucrative Chinese market.

Huawei exec's lawyers open new front in extradition trial: report
Vancouver (AFP) Dec 19, 2020 - Canada would violate international law by extraditing a Huawei executive to the United States, her lawyers argue in new documents cited by the Canadian public television channel CBC.

Meng Wanzhou's defense believes that their client's alleged actions have "no connection" with the US, according to the CBC, which cites new documents filed Friday in Vancouver court.

Meng is wanted in the US on fraud charges related to violations of US sanctions on Iran. She is accused of hiding Huawei's relationship with former subsidiary Skycom in Iran from HSBC bank.

The daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecom giant was arrested in 2018 at the Vancouver airport on a US warrant, causing a major diplomatic crisis between China and Canada.

In their latest bid to halt her extradition, Meng's lawyers cite several experts in international law.

They argue the US has no jurisdiction to charge a Chinese national for actions occurring outside the US and involving a non-US executive of a British bank.

"There is no connection," say the lawyers quoted by CBC. "None of (Meng's) alleged conduct occurred in whole or in part in the U.S. or had any effect there."

If Canada agreed to extradite her, it "would be complicit in breaching customary international law," her lawyers argue, according to the report.

The new documents were presented after several weeks of testimony by Canadian police and customs officials before the Vancouver court.

Meng's lawyers also claim that their client's rights were violated when she was arrested at the Vancouver airport and that sensitive information about her was passed on to the FBI, which Canada denies.

The final hearings to determine whether Meng should be extradited are scheduled for next May.

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EU, China push to seal investment deal by end of year
Brussels (AFP) Dec 18, 2020
The European Union and China said Friday they were closing in on an investment agreement after seven years of painstaking negotiations. The two economic powerhouses are keen to tie up the landmark pact - which would allow greater access to their lucrative markets - before the end of the year. "Negotiations have entered the last stretch," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told journalists in Beijing. In Brussels, EU officials briefed ambassadors from the bloc's 27 member stat ... read more