China has published an emergency plan for local government debt risks. The four-grade emergency plan, which could mean “fiscal rebalancing” on the part of local governments, is a precautionary arrangement, said experts. The plan is like a barrier against risk, said Zhao Quanhou, Director of the Financial Research Office of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science at the Ministry of Finance. Total local government debt in China stood at CNY16 trillion at the end of 2015 with a 38.9% debt-to-GDP ratio, lower than the 60% alert line of the European Union and other major economies. City and county governments will fiscally rebalance if their annual interest payments on general debt are 10% higher than their public spending budgets, or if interest on special debts is 10% above their government fund budgets.

The Chinese government has called for a private bank to be established in the Northeast as part of a new plan to support economic growth in the region. Beijing’s efforts to “rejuvenate” the Northeast began in 2003 as the central government tried to bring stability to an old industrial region hit by layoffs and strikes. It has since spent billions of yuan to regenerate shantytowns, build new transportation infrastructure and encourage new high-tech industries in the three provinces, but critics have said the strategy has done little to ease the region’s dependency on the state. The State Council said local governments would be responsible for drawing up new policies to develop the private economy in the region, which has long been dominated by powerful state-owned enterprises (SOEs). At least one new regional bank would be established by the end of June next year, and a “financing guarantee system” would also be set up to support small to medium-sized enterprises. Beijing will also look into developing new industries in resource-depleted cities in the Northeast to create jobs, and will accelerate construction of infrastructure projects.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) flowing both ways between the U.S. and China may be two to four times greater than shown by data from both governments, according to a Rhodium Group analysis of deals from 1990 to 2015 released in a joint report with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Nearly 6,700 U.S. investments in China over that quarter century have a combined value of USD228 billion, Rhodium found, far beyond the USD75 billion U.S. Department of Commerce estimate or the USD70 billion from China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). China’s 1,200 transactions over those years come to a combined value of USD64 billion, eclipsing MOFCOM’s USD41 billion tally and the USD15 billion to USD21 billion range from the Commerce Department. For the first time, Chinese companies invested more in the U.S. last year than American companies in China. Economic integration “is much greater than official statistics suggest,” said Thilo Hanemann, Economist at Rhodium who manages the consulting firm’s work on global trade and investment and co-wrote the report. “That means that the costs on both sides from protectionist frictions are much higher than commonly assumed.” Such links may be more crucial than ever as President-elect Donald Trump contemplates protectionist measures. Chinese President Xi Jinping told Trump in their first phone conversation that cooperation was the only correct choice for their ties. American companies employ more than 1.6 million workers in China, while that country’s investment presence provides more than 100,000 jobs in the U.S., and the benefits are spread across more than 90% of U.S. states and Chinese provinces, the South China Morning Post reports.

U.S. lawmakers should take action to ban China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from acquiring U.S. companies, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said. In its annual report to Congress, it recommended that Congress prohibit U.S. acquisitions by such entities by changing the mandate of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the U.S. government body that conducts security reviews of proposed acquisitions by foreign firms. CFIUs, led by the U.S. Treasury and with representatives from eight other agencies, including the Defense, State, and Homeland Security departments, has a veto over acquisitions from foreign private and state-controlled firms if it finds a deal would threaten national security or critical infrastructure. If enacted, the panel’s recommendation would essentially create a blanket ban on U.S. purchases by Chinese SOEs. The report “has again revealed the Commission’s stereotypes and prejudices,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing. The United States and U.S. businesses attracted a record USD64.5 billion worth of deals involving buyers from China this year, more than any other country targeted by Chinese buyers, according to Thomson Reuters. CFIUS has shown a higher degree of activism against Chinese buyers this year. Prominent deals that fell through include Tsinghua Holdings’ USD3.8 billion investment in Western Digital, the Shanghai Daily reports.

China’s outbound direct investment (ODI) totaled CNY961.9 billion in the January to October period, up 53.3% from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said. The growth rate was in line with the January to September figure, when CNY882.8 billion was invested in 160 foreign countries and overseas regions. Investment in the U.S. surged 173.9% in the first 10 months of the year, the strongest year-on-year increase for China’s non-financial overseas investment. Companies in the Yangtze River Delta contributed 35.3% of the total, nearly double their share a year ago, Ministry Spokesman Sun Jiwen said. In the same period, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland rose 4.2% year-on-year to reach CNY666.3 billion. The service sector, which accounted for 70.7% of total investment, saw a year-on-year increase of 9.1%. The Ministry said its figures did not include investments made in the banking, insurance and securities industries. China’s overseas investment surpassed incoming investment this year for the first time since records began in late 2008, as Chinese companies conducted more mergers and acquisitions (M&As) overseas. The gap between accumulative outbound and inbound investments widened from CNY50.8 billion in February to CNY295.6 billion last month. Sun said there was no change in China’s policy toward foreign investors. “The country will keep its stance to protect their legitimate interests, and provide better services and easier access for those who want to invest in China,” the Shanghai Daily reports.