In a strategic move designed to bolster its bioeconomy, China’s State Council recently approved a new pilot program in the Jiangsu Free Trade Zone (FTZ), which will be used as a testing ground for system-wide innovation in the biopharma sector. One of the core innovations of the plan is the creation of a "negative list" for cross-border biopharma data, offering a framework for regulatory compliance for international data transfers. While this is the first regulatory policy of its kind for biological data, the new framework will test how China balances its need for global engagement against its priority of data security.