A roadshow’s memo to US companies: China is still open for business
- Even with a phase one trade deal in place, traditional diplomatic and business channels have been reined in or compromised
- ‘There must be an information channel that’s current and reliable,’ an organiser of corporate presentations says
China is going straight to corporate America to improve its commercial relations.
Former government officials and others working in a semi-official capacity have started lobbying US companies – including the pharmaceutical giant Merck and the engineering multinational Emerson – with the most recent information on what policies Beijing is changing, and what they mean.
Beijing’s two-year effort to reach a trade agreement with Washington, only to sign a phase-one deal on January 15 that sidestepped the most challenging obstacles, makes it clear that China’s government needs a new approach. Traditional channels have either been reined in because of caution during trade negotiations or politicised past the point of usefulness.
“There must be an information channel that’s current and reliable,” said John Tang of the Beijing DHH Law Firm.
Thus, Tang is organising a series of sessions in major American cities, intended to reach US companies doing business in China or considering it. “We’re getting either retired Chinese officials or people that were involved in policymaking in China,” he said.
For example, China’s new foreign investment law went into effect on January 1. “These people were involved in the drafting, editing and the idea and concept behind what China is trying to achieve with these new laws,” he said.