China and Seychelles signed the Arrangement on Early Harvest on September 10, 2026, advancing their joint economic partnership. China will give zero-tariff treatment for Seychelles, and Seychelles is to further open the market to China, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
The ministry said that China will continue to promote the negotiation and signing of the agreement of China-Africa Economic Partnership for Shared Development with other African countries, and implement its 100-percent-tariff-line zero-tariff treatment for all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic ties, so as to help relevant countries share China's super-large market and broad development opportunities, and provide long-term, stable and predictable institutional guarantees for China-Africa trade and investment.
Starting May 1 this year, China expanded its zero-tariff treatment to cover all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic ties, thus becoming the first major economy to provide unilateral, full-coverage zero-tariff treatment to all African countries with diplomatic ties, and to all least developed countries with diplomatic relations.
The move created new opportunities for Africa to boost exports and industrialization amid the global headwinds of protectionism.
China, Seychelles sign arrangement on zero tariff, market-opening
China, Seychelles sign arrangement on zero tariff, market-opening
China has officially begun data property rights registration, further promoting the use of data and unlocking its value, according to the National Data Administration on Friday.
The registration system essentially issues an identity certificate for data in all its forms. It clearly defines who holds the data, what it can be used for, and who is allowed to use it.
"A unified data property rights registration system at the national level will address the problems of multiple types of data registration, inconsistent standards and insufficient mutual recognition that have existed for some time," said Luan Jie, director of the Policy and Planning Department at the National Data Administration.
Data property rights include the right to hold, use and operate data.
For example, an automaker that lawfully collects production and procurement data owns all three rights of the dataset. If it shares the data with a bank for credit assessment, the bank gains the right to use it. If it authorizes a data intermediary to trade the data, the intermediary obtains the right to operate it. "The rights to hold, use and operate data are independent of one another. Applicants can register one, two or all three rights. Unlike traditional factors of production such as land and labor, data can be copied and shared. The right to use a single dataset, for instance, can be held by multiple parties at the same time. Therefore, any data obtained in a lawful and compliant manner can be registered," Luan explained.
China officially launches data property rights registration system
