legal ground
Article 17 of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC)
If a foreigner, foreign enterprise or other foreign organization that has no habitual residence or business office in China applies for a patent in China, it shall be handled in accordance with the agreement signed between the country to which it belongs and China or the international treaties to which it is a party, or in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.
Article 36
When requesting substantive examination, the applicant for a patent for invention shall submit reference materials related to his invention before the filing date.
Where an application for a patent for invention is filed in a foreign country, the patent administration department of the State Council may require the applicant to submit the information retrieved during the examination of his application in that country or the information on the examination results within a specified time limit; If the application is not submitted within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.