As the push to either ban or force the divestment of social media platform TikTok is gaining momentum in the United States, the prospect of a divestment faces regulatory obstacles in China as well.

As a WTO complaint against U.S. semiconductor export controls lingers in the background, these controls have been the subject of comments through the U.S. rule-making process, with new comments coming in recently.

At a webinar today, Matthew Axelrod, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), discussed various aspects of U.S. export controls as they relate to China.

Earlier this month, trade officials from China and Japan held their first export control dialogue after a communication mechanism was first created last fall. But a new proposal in Japan that is currently under consideration will test the functionality of the mechanism.

With China's new export controls on graphite entering into force last December, data shows that the controls have had a significant impact on exports of natural graphite that had not been subject to export controls in the past. By contrast, the impact of the controls on artificial graphite

Last month, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the Commerce Department added thirteen Chinese companies to its "unverified list," but one of these companies, Plexus (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., was able to get itself removed from that list.

At today's press conference, the spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) commented on recent developments in trade relations with Taiwan, the anti-dumping investigation on EU brandy, and Western export controls on semiconductor equipment.