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More serious stuff on business in China

BRITF setup and experts

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Setting up our team of experts

More here about the BRITF setup and experts (See here about BRITF), we had several meetings where experts were added to our team.
Dates were 4 January, 19 March and 11 September 2019.
The names mentioned are not the complete list as other Chinese and foreign experts have been appointed on several occasions, such as in Paris and other cities.

4 January 2019

Most of the meetings take place in the UWEE offices, near the beautiful Xishuku Cathedral.
See the program. Every expert made a speech to comment on his added value.
At the inauguration ceremony, Gilbert Van Kerckhove was elected as the rotating chairman, and Michael Graham, Harvey Dzodin, Mark Howard Levine, William Spiers, David Feng and Edwin Charles Maher (absent) were elected to the Standing Committee.
Mr. Wang Lishe of China International Talent Exchange Foundation thanked BRITF Office and UWEE for successfully hosting the event.
The original report in Chinese with a rough English translation: 190104 BRITFsetup
See pictures of the meeting

19 March 2019

In this meeting, again next to the cathedral, Renaat Morel, Sydney Parmenter, Danial Albrecht, and Faddy Fadel (Dean of the American Business School in Paris) received their appointment letters from Gilbert Van Kerckhove and Yan Fei.
See some pictures of the meeting:

11 September 2019

During the meeting Gilbert Van Kerckhove and Yan Fei handed over the certificates to the new experts of the team, (Ms.) Mary Ho, Danny Lingham, (Ms.) He Bingxin and François Bernard.
The team of experts consists of representatives from many countries such as Belgium, France, Germany, USA, UK, Singapore, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia and other.
See here the pictures:

UWEE and Guangming Magazine

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

About Guangming Daily

The Guangming Daily (Guangming Ribao) is the official newspaper for China’s intellectuals who focus on science, education and culture. Launched in June 1949, the paper has its roots in a free-thinking and critically oriented tradition. It was originally the paper of the China Democratic League and in 1953 represented the eight minority ‘democratic’ parties in China.

In the 1980s, a period of flourishing intellectual debate, the Guangming Ribao became a mouthpiece for the interests of intellectuals, focusing editorials on their political status and working and living conditions. In 1994, the paper became a central Party organ under the direct supervision of the Central Party Propaganda Committee. In the early 2000s, the paper is still read widely in intellectual and academic circles, but has had some difficulty redefining its position in China’s new commercially oriented newspaper market. It relies heavily upon obligatory subscriptions from Party and state work units such as schools, universities, and publishing and cultural organizations.
(By Kevin Latham)

Guangming Online (English): http://en.gmw.cn/

Guangming Studying Abroad Magazine

The magazine, also referred to as Guangming Educator, Guangming Daily Young Journalist and other. It looks at topics related to studying abroad and related, including reporting on foreign universities. It is also involved in training young journalists, often in cooperation with local Chinese governments.

One of the issues of the magazine

Website Guangming Studying Abroad Magazine (Chinese only): http://liuxue.gmw.cn/

UWEE and Guangming Magazine sign agreement

Guangming Daily Young Journalist & Union of Western and Eastern Education Strategic Cooperation held a meeting on 14 October 2019 that also included the signing ceremony between the two parties. Were also present, several members of the Foreign Specialist team and others, including Sydney Parmenter, Mary Ho, Sun Bin, Gilbert Van Kerckhove, and Maurice.
See here the web report by UWEE in PDF, it also has the link to the original text:

191014 UWEE

The agreement covers cooperation to connect with universities worldwide.

New appointments

Recently the following specialists were appointed as members of the Foreign Expert Committee under SAFEA, China International Talent Exchange Foundation:

  • Fady Fadel, Ph.D. (Dean, The American Business School of Paris)
  • Renaat Morel (Morel’s Restaurant, Beijing)
  • Daniel Albrecht (lawyer)
  • Sydney Parmenter
  • Mary Ho

 

China Foreign Investment Law

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Call for comments

A major Chinese news agency asked me for my comments on the China Foreign Investment Law, in the middle of March. I tried to give a more honest approach keeping in mind the concerns of the small and medium foreign enterprises. Their voice is mostly ignored in favor of the bigger companies who have little choice but to play nice and avoid controversial remarks.
Not surprisingly, auto-censorship on the Chinese side could not let my contribution pass. Only favorable comments were welcome. And I refused to sugarcoat the issues.
It is actually not very constructive to improve the business environment if any meaningful dialogue is banned.
The most important comment I had left out: “Why is there a need for a China Foreign Investment Law anyway?” If foreigners set up a legal Chinese entity in China, why a different treatment? In the E.U. such as in Belgium no such law exists.

See the comment from the European Chamber, part of the article “European Chamber’s Stance on the Foreign Investment Law”, see https://www.europeanchamber.com.cn/en/press-releases/2937

More than anything else, foreign companies want equal treatment and opportunities, while not all of our concerns were addressed in this law, it is time to move forward. We will closely monitor the FIL’s implementation to ensure that it is fully respected at all levels of government and in all corners of this country.

My comments on the China Foreign Investment Law

See the full text here:  190315 foreigninvestmentlaw

What is acesulfame?

I already explained but just google it for more details.
The point I want to make is that this substance is not known and receives no attention. But the consequences of the ban have been dramatic for many foreign products entering China: all destroyed. You won’t read those stories in the press.

Dialogue is necessary

The European Chamber and Amcham, among others, are still keeping up their dialogue with the Chinese authorities to get rid of unfair rules and have scored progress for a range of products.
Also, the general feeling of Europeans (including me) is that China becoming a world power is not a threat as such; how it fulfills its role is another matter.

Much remains to be done to make the business environment open and fair. Indeed a painful issue is the unequal treatment of foreign businesses in general.
More about that later in other posts.

China International Talent Exchange Foundation

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Who are CITEF, UWEE and BRITF?

As announced earlier, the Foreign Expert Committee under SAFEA was set up in September 2018, see here. The China International Talent Exchange Foundation was mentioned but other organizations are involved.

To clarify all the different names, see the following document: 190511 CITF-BRITF

More about China International Talent Exchange Foundation

Website (Chinese only): http://www.citef.org.cn/

Chinese: 中国国际人才交流基金会
See also the following article:
China International Talent Exchange Foundation
2 June 2017
http://en.safea.gov.cn/2017-06/02/content_29589804.htm
The China International Talent Exchange Foundation is a non-profit organization authorized by the Chinese government to provide services and support for international communication and cooperation between talented individuals. The foundation is managed and guided by SAFEA. Its funds, used for that purpose in government departments, enterprises, research institutions, and civil organizations, come from government funding and donations from the public. The foundation is in charge of obtaining, managing and operating the funds, employing foreign experts, organizing overseas trainings, supporting research and development of high-tech industries, and consulting services for international communication.

The Belt and Road International Talent Fund (BRITF)

In order to speed up the international talent exchange and cooperation in the China’s international education industry, enhance the social and economic influence of China’s international education, and support economic globalization, industrial internationalization and the development of new Internet economy, Union of Western Eastern Education (UWEE) and China International Talent Exchange Foundation (CITEF) have jointly established the Belt and Road International Talent Fund (BRITF).
Fund size: 50 million RMB

That is another OBOR…

Immediate focus

The Belt and Road International Talent Fund (BRITF) – Foreign Experts Committee has as Rotating president: Gilbert Van Kerckhove.
Initially a lot of the activities will be focused of universities and special events.
Recent activities: in Beijing, Shandong province and Zhejiang Province. Later more on those.

Foreign Expert Committee under SAFEA

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Setting up of the Committee

On 18 September 2018 an official meeting was held to set up the new Foreign Expert Committee under SAFEA.
SAFEA: State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, one of the most powerful organizations in China handling foreign experts.
In the meeting Mr. Wang Lishe, Director of the Project Development Department of China International Talent Exchange Foundation of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, and Mr. Yan Fei, Member of the International Talents Fund of the China International Talent Exchange Foundation, Mr. Li Licheng, the director of the special fund, and Ms. Yang Huan, the deputy director of the special fund, attended and listened to Mr. Gilbert Van Kerckhove’s work introduction on the preparatory stage of the foreign expert committee and the future development plan of the committee.

Introduction of the Foreign Expert Committee under SAFEA

The members of the foreign expert committee are mainly international friends who have won the China Friendship Award. The first batch of 20 members, the first rotating chairman is Mr. Gilbert Van Kerckhove, and there are 7 standing committee members.
The complete title:
Gilbert Van Kerckhove
China International Talent Exchange Foundation
Belt and Road International Talent Fund – Rotating President, Foreign Experts Committee”
State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs
See here the official report in Chinese and in English:
180918 SAFEAmeeting

More to come

I will post more background information on the organizations involved in a following post.
The Experts have started to act and reports will be shown in coming posts.