With the world's second-largest economy, and with annual GDP growth of more than 9 percent, on average, the People's Republic of China (PRC) is central to the global business landscape. The nation plays a key role in many already-stressed global supply chains, which means economic trends in China inevitably cause significant impacts elsewhere in the world.

Chinese companies are not immune to soaring inflation and the rising cost of debt. In fact, issues in the property sector in China have led to mortgage boycotts and new programs to bail out the mortgage and real-estate industries. In fact, Chinese firms had missed payments on $37.3 billion of offshore bonds through mid-2022, with property developers responsible for nearly all of that total.

Given the sharp increase in Chinese defaults and other warning signs of looming business insolvencies, it's likely that an increase in claims being brought involving Chinese entities will be a significant legal trend in years to come, impacting companies that have done business with and in China.