Opportunities to Finance your Business with China – 23 October 2018, 9h30 – Brussels
Sep-27-2018 By : fcccadmin
The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce is organizing an information session on:
Opportunities to Finance your Business with China – 23 October 2018 – Umicore, Broekstraat 31 1000 Brussels
During this session, experts will present you information on available investment funds and financial support when expanding your business to China.
The programme is as follows:
09h00-09h30: Registration
09h30-09h35: Introduction, Ms Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director, Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce
09h35-09h55: ”Different Investment Vehicles for Belgian Companies investing in China and Chinese Companies investing in Belgium or in Europe”, Mr Rik Daems, Chairman, China-Belgium-Direct Equity Investment Fund
09h55-10h15: “Capricorn-Scorpio: Equity & Support for China roll-out”, Mr Jos B. Peeters, Managing Partner, Capricorn Venture Partners
10h15-10h30: “Support from the SME Growth Portfolio”, Mrs Benedicte De Buck, SME Growth Portfolio, Project Adviser, Agency Innovation and Entrepreneurship, VLAIO
10h30-10h45: “Securing/Financing your exports to China”, Mr Frank Haak, Head GTS Sales Belgium, BNP Paribas Fortis
10h45-11u00: Coffee-break
11h00-11h15: “Exporting to China? Investing in China? Support by Credendo”, Mr Wim Bosman, Business Development Specialist, Marketing and Communication from Credendo, Export Credit Agency
11h15-11h30: “Subsidies to Promote International Business”, Mr Yves Roekens, Head Financial Incentives Flanders Investment & Trade
11h30-11h45: “Financing of Sales Offices in China”, Mr Jan Holthuis, Lawyer, Buren
11h45-12h00: Question and answer session
12h00-13h00: Networking lunch Practical information: Location: Umicore, Broekstraat 31, 1000 Brussels
Price for members: € 75 (excl. VAT)
Price for non-members: € 110 (excl. VAT)
If you are interested to participate in this session, please subscribe before 18 October 2018 via this link
Contact: FCCC: info@flanders-china.be
Seminar: Compliance: a New Challenge for Foreign Businesses in China 20 September 2018 – Ghent
Sep-25-2018 By : fcccadmin
The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce organized a seminar: Compliance: a New Challenge for Foreign Businesses in China, on 20 September at Holiday Inn Gent Expo. The keynote speaker was Mr. Philippe Snel, founder and managing partner of De Wolf Law. He started his China practice in 2001. He has been a member of the Brussels Bar since 1997. Philippe helps foreign investors establish, develop and operate their businesses in China. He mainly advises in the fields of corporate law, compliance and technology transfer.
Following registration and a networking lunch, Ms. Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director, Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce, introduced the keynote speaker, followed by Mr. Philippe Snel’s presentation.
New tariffs take effect with no compromise in sight
By : fcccadmin
U.S. tariffs of 10% on an additional USD200 billion worth of Chinese products came into effect on September 24, with the tariff rate increasing to 25% on January 1 next year unless China makes concessions. China responded by imposing tariffs on USD60 billion worth of U.S. goods, effective the same day. China’s Customs Tariff Commission unveiled lists of 3,571 items of U.S. products to be subject to additional tariffs of 10%, and lists of another 1,636 items to be subject to additional tariffs of 5%. The U.S. and China earlier imposed 25% tariffs on USD50 billion worth of each other’s imports. Washington is losing patience with China after seeing no sign of progress on structural reforms to address its trade imbalance with the United States, according to U.S. officials.
The Trump Administration imposed a 10% tariff on more than 5,700 items, ranging from caviar to beer, but 297 categories were fully or partially removed from the tariff list originally proposed by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), after intense lobbying by U.S. businesses and about a week of public comment. The excluded list includes items where China is the dominant exporter – rare earth metals – or is one of the few places that supplies such items – it is the second-largest exporter of human hair to the U.S. after India. The items the U.S. chose to remove from its tariff list also included car seats for babies and toddlers, ibuprofen, antiques more than 100 years old, and a variety of chemicals. Apple received a reprieve as categories that covered the Apple Watch and AirPods were removed from the list. However, its Apple Pencil and Magic Mouse, as well as various other components, remained on the list. Haibin Zhu, JP Morgan’s Chief China Economist, said the tariffs may have a modest economic impact, but could lead to the loss of as many as 700,000 jobs in China’s export sector.
The U.S.’ latest announcement of tariffs on USD200 billion worth of Chinese products may knock about half a percentage point off China’s growth rate, according to officials and economists. Ding Shuang, Chief China Economist with Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong, said that – together with previous U.S. tariffs on USD50 billion of Chinese goods – a 10% U.S. tariff on USD200 billion of Chinese imports would drag down China’s growth by 0.4 percentage points, increasing to a 0.6 drop when the tariffs are increased to 25% on January 1, 2019. That figure may be manageable, but the real challenge for Beijing in an escalating trade battle with the U.S. is that China’s manufacturing base, which helped to underpin the country’s economic boom in the past four decades, may be harmed, they said. “The direct impact from the trade war is not that significant; the significance is its impact on sentiment and expectations,” Liu Shijin, the former Vice President of the Development Research Center and an economic policy adviser to China’s leaders, said. China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that Beijing is being forced to hit back to “safeguard its own interests and the world’s free trade order”.
Sheng Liugang, Economics Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, estimated that the 10% tariffs on USD200 billion of Chinese goods would make China lose USD22 billion in exports – a number that is not significant for now. Trade between China and the U.S. has looked robust so far. In August, China exported USD44.4 billion worth of goods to the U.S., a rise of 13.2% from August 2017, contributing 20.4% of total Chinese overseas shipments last month. Meanwhile, China imported USD13.3 billion of products from the U.S. in August, a rise of 2.3% from the same month last year, giving China a record-high trade surplus with the U.S. of USD31.1 billion.
Lou Jiwei, a former Chinese Finance Minister and now Chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund, said in a speech at the China Development Forum that China does not need to panic about the trade war, because the trade will inflict pain on U.S. enterprises as well. “Even if the U.S. wants to set up an alternative supply chain in a third country, that takes time,” Lou said. “Can the U.S. really withstand the pain for three or even five years?”
According to the American Chamber of Commerce in China, just 6% of our member companies say the current U.S.-China trade dispute would make them consider relocating operations back home, but more than half of U.S. firms said they “have experienced a rise in non-tariff barriers in recent months”, including increased inspections and slower customs clearance. Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan held talks with representatives from six multinationals – Cohen Group, Emerson, SAP, HSBC, Samsung and Toyota – promising them that China’s market would be more open to them and that Beijing would enhance intellectual property protection. On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) conference in Tianjin, Timothy Stratford, former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative and now Managing Partner in law firm Covington & Burling’s Beijing office, said Beijing faced a dilemma in how to respond. Stratford said Beijing indicated earlier that it would take qualitative measures but not retaliate against U.S. businesses in China because they did not want them to invest and source elsewhere. “It’s a very difficult policy decision on China’s part to find just the right touch to do this, and they are still sorting this out,” he said.
The U.S. also imposed sanctions on the Chinese military for buying Russian SU-35 fighter jets and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems. Beijing urged Washington to withdraw the sanctions or face the consequences. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said the sanctions severely violated the basic rules of international law and seriously damaged relations between the two countries and their armies. China summoned U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad to lodge a formal complaint and recalled its Navy Commander Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong, who was visiting the U.S.to speak at the 23rd International Seapower Symposium (ISS) in Newport, Rhode Island.
Officials from China, Japan and South Korea are calling for further efforts to accelerate talks about a free-trade agreement in the face of escalating trade pressures from the U.S. The three countries held the fifth free-trade agreement (FTA) forum in Beijing last week to prepare for the next stage of the negotiations. After nine years of feasibility study, the three countries’ long-anticipated FTA negotiations began in 2012, but 13 rounds of talks have been held with little progress.
Premier Li Keqiang addresses WEF’s “Meeting of the New Champions” in Tianjin
By : fcccadmin
Premier Li Keqiang called for safeguarding economic globalization and accelerating the new industrial revolution by promoting more inclusive development, innovation and new drivers for economic growth. The authority of the rule-based multilateral trading system – the foundation for globalization and free trade – should be respected and safeguarded as uncertainties and anti-globalization sentiment are on the rise, Li said at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2018, also known as Summer Davos, in Tianjin. Unilateral action cannot solve problems, and all nations should help boost the new industrial revolution, Li said. The event, with the theme “Building an Innovation Society in the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, has drawn more than 2,500 business leaders, government officials, researchers and journalists from more than 100 countries.
China has no intention of weakening its currency to help exporters and will not engage in any form of “competitive devaluation” of its exchange rate, Premier Li Keqiang said. “Some people think China deliberately devalued the yuan; this is groundless,” Li said. “A one-way depreciation will do more harm than good for China,” Li told business and political leaders. “China will not choose the path of bolstering exports by devaluing the yuan, the yuan exchange rate will be kept basically stable,” Li said. “I welcome you filing complaints to the Chinese government, including all levels of governments, if you have any problem in doing businesses in China,” Li said. He also ruled out a massive stimulus program to offset the economic impact of the trade war, saying the government would fine-tune its fiscal and monetary policies to cope with the economic challenge.
Li also said the world’s multilateral trading system should be upheld. “All existing problems need to be worked out through consultation,” he said, adding that unilateralism does not offer solutions. The Premier promised to build a business environment that treats Chinese and foreign companies equally, and ensures fair competition. “China will make greater efforts to promote opening-up, deepen reform in all areas, further ease market access, improve transparency of policies, as well as conduct fair and equitable regulation,” Li said. He added that China would further cut taxes and fees to reduce the corporate burden.
Premier Li also held a dialogue with international business leaders attending the Annual Meeting, answering questions on deleveraging; the WTO and bilateral trade agreements; the opening-up of China’s financial markets; measures to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights; tax reform; and programs to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. The transcript of the dialogue, chaired by Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab, is available on the website of the China Daily here.
A war of words broke out when two U.S. Republican Congressmen called out China’s commitments to free and fair trade just minutes after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s keynote speech. Darrell Issa, from California, and Todd Rokita, of Indiana, called on China to stop “stealing and cheating” and urged the government to take timely actions that would allow a ceasefire in the trade war with the United States. Their ad hoc press conference on the sidelines of the Forum was not on the official schedule and attendees received an email during Li’s speech to say it would occur less than 30 minutes after the Premier’s address. The two Congressmen voiced strong support for the Trump administration’s trade confrontation with China.
California Republican Representative Darrell Issa has meanwhile being appointed by the White House as Director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). One of the Agency’s tasks is to help companies create jobs through exporting U.S. goods and services. Issa’s appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.
European Chamber Position Paper 2018/2019 provides recommendations to accelerate China’s development and quash global trade conflict
By : fcccadmin
The European Chamber of Commerce in China (European Chamber) released its European Business in China – Position Paper 2018/2019 (Position Paper), which raises concerns about the widening gap between China’s rapidly maturing economy and the shortcomings of its reform and opening agenda. It examines the most significant limitations on European businesses that prevent them from efficiently delivering the goods and services that their customers demand.
Tensions in the global economic system have manifested themselves in the U.S.-China trade war, which is now seriously disrupting global supply chains. The root cause is China’s reform and opening failing to keep pace with its rapidly maturing economy, which has created a ‘reform deficit’. The Position Paper provides 828 specific recommendations that the European Chamber believes will help China to overcome this deficit and mitigate outside pressures.
The potential for further escalation of the trade war due to the growing impatience of China’s trade and investment partners is reason enough to take a decisive course of action, but China’s domestic concerns also demand progress. While market access and unequal treatment impact international firms, many of the recommendations found in the Position Paper will also benefit China’s own private enterprises – regulatory challenges and ambiguous policies cut into bottom lines and frustrate all market actors. China also needs to address the impact that its state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are having on the private sector, as they squeeze out competition and drain financing from the market. Tackling these serious issues would create a fair and competitive business environment that would attract more high-quality foreign investment, a current priority of the Chinese government.
“European companies have for a long time been stifled by the effects of China’s reform deficit, and now they are taking collateral damage from the U.S.-China trade war,” said Mats Harborn, President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. “Creating an open and fair market based on reciprocity will de-escalate this conflict and usher in China’s next stage of development,” according to the European Chamber’s press release.
You can download the Position Paper at:
http://www.europeanchamber.com.cn/en/publications-position-paper
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