New Delhi, May 11 -- In April, the Chinese government issued a notification-Decree 834, which imposed restrictions on multinational companies operating in the country. Mint examines what this decree is all about, its motivation, its implications for India, and what the Indian government should do to counter it.

Decree 834 is China's first comprehensive regulation on industrial and supply chain security. While not entirely new, it creates a unified national security-driven regulatory framework for supply chain oversight. It has rattled multinational companies located in the country. Reason: It opens their commercial actions-which 'cause or may cause substantial harm' to China's critical supply chain-to regulatory scrutiny. Experts are con...