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Chinese companies from the People’s Republic of China in the US have been organizing to promote their interests as shown by the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA (CGCC)’s expansion. The rise of the CGCC mirrors the development of foreign business associations in China such as the American Chambers of Commerce (AmCham China). The CGCC’s mission is to “promote the brand of Chinese companies collectively, protect their legal rights, and advocate for fairer regulation” and to serve a bridging function.

With China’s emergence as the world’s number one energy consumer and oil importer, its ties with Middle Eastern and Central Asian nations have assumed a more significant role in sustaining its rise to power globally. China is the number one recipient of Saudi and Iranian oil exports in the world. In fact, China depends on the Middle East for close to 50 percent of its total oil imports. Not surprisingly, then, Beijing’s energy and national security depends on maintaining supply security and cultivating warm relations with the key regional energy producing nations.

In early February an American law firm filed a class action lawsuit against Alibaba for violating the US Securities Exchange Act by concealing information about regulatory problems it faced in China. The case linked to a spat between Alibaba and China’s State Administration of Industry and Commerce over the amount of counterfeit goods on Alibaba’s website and the adequacy of Alibaba’s measures to address the problems.

One major aspect setting Chinese multinational corporations apart from other MNCs is the high proportion of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Despite concerns about potential competitive distortions, national security threats, and undesired corporate behavior associated with state ownership, disagreements about the extent of the difference between state-owned and private firms have left unclear how host countries should treat state-owned foreign investors.

At the end of 2014, the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) announced a new code of corporate governance, to be adopted in June this year, to advance the “third arrow” (structural reform) of “Abenomics,” Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s multi-pronged program for reinvigorating Japanese economic growth.