IV.　 Possible solutions

　　In light of the above legal risks, the author suggests that Chinese companies listed in the U.S. and appropriate accounting firms should consider taking the following measures:

　　1. Chinese companies listed in the U.S. and appropriate accounting firms should strengthen confidentiality and archives management. In order to perform the Chinese statutory obligation of guarding state secrets and archives, Chinese companies listed in the U.S. and appropriate accounting firms should establish or improve the appropriate internal rules, providing specifically for the scope of confidentiality of documents and information, the responsibilities of the confidentiality staff, confidentiality control measures, and the collection, preservation and utilisation of archives, etc., and carrying out all control measures, so as to establish a long-acting compliance mechanism pursuant to the Law on Guarding State Secrets, the Archives Law and other applicable laws and regulations, based on its practical business operations.

　　2. Chinese companies listed in the U.S. should identify accounting information involving sensitive information, and take different approaches to different types of accounting information. Based on the principle “who generates, who classifies”， Chinese companies listed in the U.S. should determine pursuant to law if any accounting information generated in routine operations involves state secrets, and the corresponding level and scope of confidentiality.

　　If it is difficult to determine if certain sensitive information is state secret, a Chinese company listed in the U.S. should submit such information in a timely fashion to the state secret-guarding authorities for identification. A Chinese company listed in the U.S. should not provide any accounting information determined or identified to involve state secrets pursuant to law to an appropriate accounting firm; if the non-disclosure of the above accounting information might limit the scope of auditing, the Chinese company listed in the U.S. should not provide such information to the appropriate accounting firm without the prior approval of the state secret-guarding authorities, provided it takes non-disclosure measures and asks the other party to assume the non-disclosure commitments;