China has unveiled a revised rule for regulating outbound investment, requiring investors to report major adverse developments more diligently, including foreign demands to hand over technology or dispose of stakes.

The new rule, announced by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Thursday, aimed to better prevent and mitigate rising overseas risks and protect Chinese interests, according to the government agency.

“In recent years, a small number of countries and regions have adopted discriminatory measures, with some demanding that Chinese investors hand over technology or data, or dispose of equity stakes and assets, undermining Chinese interests,” the NDRC said in a statement on Thursday.

It said that some Chinese investors had underestimated overseas risks and responded inadequately to political instability and volatile policies, suffering losses.

The NDRC said the new rule refined the reporting system for major adverse circumstances and also established an annual reporting framework for outbound investment information.

It would also work to optimise the reporting requirements for reinvestment made through offshore entities and introduce early-stage reporting obligations for some large projects, or those that could affect China’s diplomatic relations with other countries.

“By keeping regulatory authorities informed of such developments, investors can help foster joint efforts to guard against and manage overseas risks.”The 76-article regulation, which takes effect on December 1 and replaces the version introduced in 2017, comes as the growing scale and complexity of China’s overseas investments prompt Beijing to strengthen its regulatory framework.

The changes come as Chinese companies face mounting scrutiny of their investments abroad. In recent years, US authorities have pushed TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to relinquish control of its American operations, while Dutch authorities and courts have intervened in the governance of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia.

China’s annual outbound investment flows rose from US$158.3 billion in 2017 to US$213.6 billion in 2025, while its stock of overseas investments nearly doubled from US$1.8 trillion to US$3.4 trillion, according to the NDRC.

China has ranked among the world’s top three for outbound investment for nine consecutive years, officials from the Ministry of Commerce said during a press conference on Thursday, adding that its outbound direct investment reached US$128.62 billion in the first nine months of 2026.

The revised rules also expanded the definition of investors beyond domestic companies and organisations to include individual investors.

It would continue to allow investors to deploy capital in overseas financial markets through existing channels, including the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor scheme, Stock Connect and Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect scheme, without being subject to the new approval, filing and reporting requirements in most cases.

According to an analysis by Chinese law firm King & Wood, extending the regulatory framework to individual residents could provide a clearer legal pathway for Chinese citizens seeking to invest overseas.

The law firm said outbound investment by Chinese individuals had long been governed primarily by foreign exchange regulations, which applied to a relatively limited range of activities.