•NPC Standing Committee to meet 2–6 November, taking up a Criminal Procedure Law amendment and draft anti-cross-border-corruption and financial laws
Huang Haihua, spokesperson for the NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission, told a briefing on 30 October that the 74th chairpersons' council decided the committee's 25th session will be held in Beijing from 2 to 6 November. The council proposed that the session deliberate draft laws on procuratorial public-interest litigation, Antarctic activities and environmental protection, a revised Water Law, anti-cross-border corruption, state-owned assets and finance; a council motion to deliberate an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law; a motion to revise the Renewable Energy Law; and State Council motions on a revised Tax Collection Administration Law and amendments to 15 laws including the Emergency Response Law. Lianhe Zaobao, citing Southern Weekly, said the criminal procedure revision was put on this NPC term's legislative plan in September 2023 and on the 2026 work plan, and that whether to keep "residential surveillance at a designated location" has become a focus of legal scholars. Peking University law professor Chen Yongsheng said in September that one version he had heard would limit the measure to state-security and terrorism crimes and abolish it for others, which he said would not be enough. The draft text has not been published. Share · Copy
•Former Sinopec chairman Fu Chengyu under CCDI investigation for suspected serious discipline and law violations
China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Supervisory Commission said on their website on 31 October that Fu Chengyu, former Party secretary and chairman of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), is under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation for suspected serious violations of Party discipline and the law. Xinhua, CCTV, China News Service and People's Daily Online carried the notice, which gave no specifics. Caixin said the notice was posted around 17:30; that Fu stepped down from Sinopec in May 2015 and has been retired for more than 11 years; and that multiple sources told it he was taken away around the previous Thursday, with the probe possibly involving economic issues around Sinopec's mixed-ownership reform and the listing of its marketing company. Fu earlier spent much of his career at CNOOC, serving as its general manager, Party secretary and chairman before moving to Sinopec in 2011; public records say he was a member of the 17th CCDI and a standing committee member of the 12th National Committee of the CPPCC. SCMP said he is 75 and had chaired both CNOOC and Sinopec. Bloomberg also reported the CCDI probe the same day. Share · Copy
•Xi urges 'rational, pragmatic and friendly' German policy in talks with Steinmeier, who presses for a smaller Chinese trade surplus
President Xi Jinping held talks with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People on the afternoon of 30 October. According to the foreign ministry readout, Xi said the two countries should build a new model of cooperation featuring equality, mutual benefit and strategic stability and open a new chapter in their all-round strategic partnership; he urged Germany to keep a rational, pragmatic and friendly China policy and to give Chinese companies in Germany a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment, offered cooperation in AI, green development, trade in services and the digital economy, and said China-EU cooperation outweighs competition. Xi also briefed Steinmeier on the Party's fifth plenum. The readout said Steinmeier reaffirmed Germany's one-China policy, said trade differences could be settled through dialogue, and voiced support for free trade and WTO rules and opposition to trade wars. Deutsche Welle reported that Steinmeier told Xi China's large trade surplus with Germany should be reduced, said the international order was under strain with "might is right" seemingly on the rise and that the world needs China to help uphold it, and that the two discussed the Middle East, Sudan and Russia-Ukraine. Reuters said the visit comes amid rising EU-China trade tensions, with Brussels warning it will use every means to address its widening deficit. Steinmeier also met Premier Li Qiang earlier that day and was scheduled to return to Germany on 31 October. Share · Copy
•Two Chinese nationals sentenced to 30 months each in the US for acting as agents of China's Ministry of State Security
The US Justice Department said on 30 October (US time) that Chinese nationals Liren "Ryan" Lai, 40, and Yuance Chen, 39, were each sentenced in the Northern District of California to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release. They had pleaded guilty, on 12 December 2025 and 20 February 2026 respectively, to conspiring to act and acting as agents of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General. According to the department, the two operated under the direction of China's Ministry of State Security from no later than May 2021; in January 2022 they arranged a roughly $10,000 "dead drop" cash payment left in a locker at a recreational facility in Livermore, California. From 2022 Chen photographed Naval Base Kitsap in Washington state and recruits and sailors inside a Southern California Navy recruiting station, collected personal information on a Navy employee and compiled profiles of potential recruitment targets. Lai travelled to the US in 2023 to give Chen a phone for covert MSS communications and in May 2025 was directed to Phoenix to arrange a roughly $20,000 cash payment. Both were arrested in an FBI operation on 27 June 2025. Courthouse News said Judge Jon Tigar handed down the sentences, that Chen has been a lawful permanent resident since 2019, and that Lai lives in China and entered the US several times on visitor visas. No Chinese response had been seen at the time of publication. Share · Copy
Friday 30 Oct close; STAR50 -5.48% to 1,160.84; Shanghai and Shenzhen turnover about 1.67 trillion yuan. CNH quoted 6.6502 at 17:04 on 30 October (Sina Finance FX); CNY is the 30 October fixing of 6.7138 (up 9 basis points, CFETS); the onshore yuan closed at 6.6557 at 16:30. Data: Sina Finance, Jiemian, China News Service, Gelonghui.
•US FCC votes to bar mainland Chinese labs from certification testing of electronics from December 2028; China's commerce ministry says it has already countered and demands repeal
The US Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously on 29 October (US Eastern time) to stop recognising radio-frequency device test labs, telecommunication certification bodies and lab accreditation bodies located in "non-reciprocal economies" that lack mutual-recognition or comparable agreements with the US from 1 December 2028, and to bar FCC-related testing, certification or accreditation work there. Reuters quoted FCC Chair Brendan Carr as saying about 82% of electronics were tested in China in 2025 and that such labs gain access to sensitive product information months before launch. Caixin said all RF devices such as phones, computers and networking gear will then have to be tested in the US or in more than 60 countries and regions with recognition agreements, a list that excludes mainland China and India. Certifications granted before the deadline remain valid. A commerce ministry spokesperson said on 30 October that the FCC had "violated the important consensus reached by the two heads of state" by repeatedly issuing China-related restrictions, that China strongly opposes the move and had already taken countermeasures, that Washington had been negative on its repeated proposals for a bilateral mutual-recognition agreement, and that China demands the measure be revoked and will take further steps if the US persists. Share · Copy
•China's official October manufacturing PMI falls to 49.3, missing forecasts, as non-manufacturing and composite gauges also slip below 50
The NBS Service Industry Survey Center and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said on 31 October that the official manufacturing PMI fell 0.8 points to 49.3 in October. The output sub-index fell 1.9 points to 49.8 and new orders fell 1.1 points to 49.4; large firms stood at 50.2, while medium and small firms were at 48.4 and 47.5. The input-price and output-price indices fell 4.0 and 2.3 points to 56.8 and 51.7. High-tech and equipment manufacturing PMIs were 51.3 and 50.6; consumer goods and energy-intensive industries were 48.8 and 47.3. The non-manufacturing business activity index fell 0.5 points to 49.7, with construction at 48.0 and services at 50.0, and the composite output index fell 1.0 point to 49.7. NBS chief statistician Huo Lihui attributed the manufacturing decline to demand brought forward before the National Day holiday and a complex international environment, and the services dip mainly to a sharp fall in financial-sector activity. Reuters said factory activity contracted at its fastest pace in three months, missing the 50.0 forecast in its poll, as soft demand including for exports weighed on manufacturers. Share · Copy
•Apple and Alibaba say Qwen will be built into Apple Intelligence in China, with testing from 4 November and a December launch in iOS 27.3
Apple said in a press release on 31 October that the first Apple Intelligence features are coming to China and that, through a partnership with Alibaba, Chinese users will be able to use Qwen's text and image understanding and content generation directly in Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence. The features enter testing with the latest iOS developer beta from 4 November and launch for users in China with iOS 27.3 in December; other platforms will follow "after obtaining the necessary approvals". The first batch includes Live Translation, Writing Tools, Clean Up in Photos and notification and mail summaries, on the iPhone 15 Pro and later, iPhone 16 and later, iPhone Air and iPhone Duo. Apple said users will be asked for permission before any question, document or image is sent to Qwen; China Daily quoted Alibaba as saying requests and responses will not be used to train its models. China Daily said the cyberspace regulator registered Apple's on-device generative AI service in July, and that the December update excludes the new Siri and other features unveiled at this year's WWDC. The Verge said it marks Apple Intelligence's first arrival in China. Yicai/ifeng reported Alibaba's US-listed shares briefly rose more than 2% after hours. Share · Copy
•China discloses first crewed lunar mission plan: three astronauts, two to land, via dual launches
Wang Xiang, deputy chief designer of China's manned space program and chief designer of its lunar exploration program, said at the 7th Human Space Symposium at Beihang University on 31 October that China plans a crewed Moon landing before 2030, and that the first crewed lunar mission is planned for a three-person crew with two landing on the surface. The mission will use a lunar-orbit rendezvous profile with 'two launches, one landing': two Long March-10 rockets will first send a lander into lunar orbit, then launch a crewed spacecraft to dock with it; two astronauts will enter the lander, separate and land for exploration, then ascend, redock in lunar orbit and return to Earth in the spacecraft. Wang said development for the landing phase is proceeding. Global Times, The Paper, Beijing Daily Online and Lianhe Zaobao reported the remarks; Zaobao also noted that a Long March-10 low-altitude demo and a Mengzhou max-dynamic-pressure abort test succeeded in February. Share · Copy
