China joins global effort to combat tax evasion

China on Tuesday joined an international effort to fight tax avoidance and evasion by signing a multilateral tax agreement to share tax and financial information.

The agreement, known as the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, is the first multilateral tax instrument China has signed.

The participation of Beijing, the last Group of 20 member to sign the agreement, was viewed as a timely and significant step as it means all G20 countries are now moving toward the implementation of automatic tax information exchanges as a new global standard, which is also a main priority of the upcoming G20 summit in St Petersburg, Russia, next week.