CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) is an important option for coal-fired power plants in China since they currently contribute about half the country’s CO₂ emissions and the average age of the fleet is currently less than 15 years old. Previous studies on the operation of CO₂ capture systems have identified several strategies for flexible operation that can improve the economics of CCS. However, these analyses assume liberalized electricity markets with variable pricing and very high levels of mandated capture leading to significant economic penalties associated with excess emissions. This is not the current situation in China. Here, we clarify the drivers and constraints for flexible CO₂ capture applied to the power sector in China and show how optimal strategies could diverge, in the short to intermediate term, from best practices in other parts of the world. We complement this general analysis with a look at the ground-level situation in two regions in northern China where CCS is promising. Both perspectives suggest that strategies for flexible operation of CO₂ capture developed to take advantage of variable dispatch prices in liberalized electricity markets are not valid in the China context in the near to intermediate term. Instead, we conclude that efforts to optimize the flexibility of CO₂ capture should focus on capital cost reductions and flexibility in system design in support of staged deployment, along with the possibility of coordinated action across power plant fleets.