China plans to publish rules this year on outbound investment (ODI) by Chinese firms that would spell out the sectors in which investing is encouraged and those where it is restricted. Chinese regulators have clamped down in recent months on outbound deals as part of efforts to stem rising capital outflows that have contributed to a weakening yuan. Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said earlier this month that a small number of Chinese companies had invested overseas “blindly and irrationally” in investments that China does not encourage. Therefore, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) will more closely monitor “irrational” investment in property, entertainment, sports and other sectors. Efforts to contain outbound investment appear to be having a significant effect. Non-financial outbound investment fell 52.8% from January to February from the same period last year, with amounts in the property and entertainment sectors down over 80%. Chinese firms invested about CNY1.1 trillion in 164 countries and regions in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 44.1%.

South Korea has complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO) about Chinese retaliation against South Korean companies over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system in the South. South Korea and the United States say the sole purpose of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is to guard against missile launches from North Korea, but China says that its powerful radar could penetrate into its territory and endanger its security. “We have notified the WTO that China may be in violation of some trade agreements,” South Korean Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan told parliament in response to questions about China’s reaction. It would be up to South Korea to follow up on its complaint to the WTO for any action to take place, analysts say, either by continuing to raise its concerns and spelling out what China is doing wrong, or by launching a trade dispute. The first step would be to formally “request consultations” with China. China is South Korea’s largest trading partner and the dispute over THAAD has resulted in a sharp decline in Chinese tourists visiting the South’s shopping districts. Chinese authorities have also closed nearly two dozen retail stores of South Korea’s Lotte Group, although Beijing has never explicitly linked the restrictions to the THAAD deployment. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it supports normal business and other exchanges between China and South Korea, the South China Morning Post reports.

China has asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to create an expert panel to examine the so-called “surrogate country” approach used by the European Union to calculate anti-dumping measures applied to Chinese exports. When China joined the WTO in 2001, it was agreed that member states should treat it as a non-market economy after 15 years. The deadline passed late last year, but the EU still applies tough rules that protect the bloc from cheap Chinese products. China asked the WTO to establish a panel to rule on its demand that the EU stop using a “surrogate country” system – judging the price of Chinese goods against a third country’s – to determine whether China is selling its products below market prices. “China is disappointed that it needs to seek action by the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) in order for the European Union to remedy the obvious and egregious WTO-inconsistency of its measures,” China’s Representative to the WTO said. China said previously that the refusal to grant it market economy status is an example of “covert protectionism” and “double standards” by the West. The EU has opposed the creation of the panel, but under WTO rules, if China makes a second request, it will automatically be set up. WTO’s panels of independent trade and legal experts take several months to decide. They can authorize retaliatory trade measures if they rule in favor of a plaintiff.

A team of researchers at the University of Hong Kong has discovered how the deadly H7N9 virus has attained a higher ability to infect humans while also being contagious among avian species, placing the city at the forefront of bird flu drug development. Scientists analyzed the DNA of H7N9 virus strains collected since the 2013 outbreak, and identified a gene mutation that allowed it to adapt to human cells. The research, headed by Professor Chen Honglin of the university’s State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications. Chen said the findings could “help monitor the emergence and transmission of the bird flu virus in humans and prevent human-to-human infection, as well as provide a new target for antivirus drug development”. He added that it was rare for avian viruses to be transmitted to humans, but the mutation in this case was particularly aggressive and adaptable. There is currently no publicly available vaccine to protect against the H7N9 virus infection. The first confirmed infections of the new H7N9 strain of bird flu were reported in China in March 2013. There were a total of 1,329 confirmed human H7N9 cases around the world since then, claiming at least 492 lives. Most of the cases were from mainland China, while Hong Kong registered 21, and 10 other cases were distributed across Taiwan, Canada, Macao, and Malaysia, the South China Morning Post reports.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have urged the Chinese government to take more precautionary measures to prevent a possible bird flu epidemic as the virus may become capable of human-to-human transmission. China reported 352 human cases of H7N9 in the first two months of the year, resulting in 140 deaths.

Chinese automaker Chery Automobile Co has filed a complaint with the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) over Mercedes-Benz’s use of the “eQ” name for a line of green-energy vehicles. Chery has used the name “eQ” for its two-door battery electric car for two years and wants Mercedes-Benz to stop using the name. Mercedes showed off a concept car for its forthcoming line of electric vehicles last year, saying it would build its first eQ car in a German factory by the end of the decade. A ruling in Chery’s favor would be a blow to Mercedes in a key market for new-energy vehicles as more electric cars are sold in China than in the rest of the world combined. China aggressively promotes green cars to fight air pollution.