From the first issue in 1974 and well into the 2010s, the China Business Review was an indispensable resource for businesses, researchers, and policymakers who needed a first-hand account of the challenges and the tremendous opportunities posed by the China market.
Zhejiang Province Party Secretary Che Jun and a large delegation of Zhejiang officials and business representatives met with US-China Business Council (USCBC) members in Washington, DC, on August 25 to discuss trade and investment opportunities. The delegation included senior representatives of the Zhejiang Provincial Working Group, the Zhejiang Commerce Commission, and CEOs of numerous Zhejiang-based companies.
The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Human Resources & Social Security recently released its annual minimum wage adjustments for 2017, as well as the associated changes to employee benefits. The adjustments, which came into effect on April 1, affect minimum wages, medical insurance, social insurance, pensions, and other forms of employee compensation.
As awareness of LGBTQ+ issues in China rises, employers are facing newfound scrutiny over their treatment of sexual minorities. Employers have the opportunity to establish safe work environments for LGBTQ+ employees, and become leaders in China’s changing social climate. Doing so can boost office morale, increase work efficiency, and, most importantly, give opportunities to those too often suffering from discrimination.
The “One Belt One Road” (OBOR) initiative, first announced in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, is an extremely ambitious and far-reaching initiative with significant potential to improve the social and economic structure in Asia, Europe, and northeastern Africa, where more than half of the world’s population lives. The OBOR initiative proposes to improve the transportation infrastructure to give rise to closer and larger economic, social, cultural, and political ties. This win-win initiative should benefit more than 50% of the world’s population living in that region and contribute to political stability and peace in the world.
Providing a small amount of stability in a year of significant changes for cross-border ecommerce, the Chinese government recently halted a move to increase regulation — and costs — of foreign goods purchased online by consumers in China. Observers believe the measure is a temporary stopgap as officials work to establish additional procedures for scrutinizing yet unspecified types of imports.
Any company with more than a small presence in China will likely need to conduct an internal investigation in China at some point. Companies can take certain steps to minimize headaches when such an investigation is needed.
Hong Kong’s Financial Services and Treasury Bureau (FSTB) recently issued a consultation document on amending the Companies Ordinance law. If the amendment proposal is approved, companies incorporated in Hong Kong will need to identify their beneficial owners and register with the Hong Kong Companies Registrars.
On July 18th, the US-China Business Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the China General Chamber of Commerce – USA hosted a reception and luncheon in honor of His Excellency Wang Yang, vice premier of the People’s Republic of China. U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue, China General Chamber of Commerce – USA Chairman Xu Chen gave the welcome remarks. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also addressed the luncheon.
The US-China Business Council’s (USCBC) annual report on state exports shows that China continues to be an important destination for American goods and a significant contributor to US economic growth. “Since 2005, USCBC data reveals that US exports to China have grown faster than exports to any other major US trading partner,” USCBC President John Frisbie said. “Despite the slowdown of a maturing economy, growth the past decade is unmistakable. There is no doubt that China is an important market for states across the country and that more must be done to strengthen US exports to China.”
Recently, several media sources reported that Liaoning province had been fabricating its economic data from 2011 to 2014. As reported by the state-run People’s Daily newspaper, city- and county-level governments altered economic data, including exaggerating their fiscal revenues by at least 20 percent. Previously, the official news agency Xinhua reported that one county in Liaoning had overstated its fiscal revenues by 127 percent in 2013. This incident strengthens longstanding suspicions of data manipulation and methodological inadequacies distorting China’s economic performance.Therefore, making sense of China’s economic data poses challenges for foreign investors, who invariably need accurate statistics to make informed business decisions.
