FIT: Princely mission to China – 16 to 22 November 2019
Apr-30-2019 By : fcccadmin
China is one of the largest economies in the world and the second-largest importer. It is also one of the biggest countries with an enormous consumer market: the number of people in China’s middle class is increasing yearly. It is Flanders’ 10th export destination and the third outside Europe.
China’s economic development involves technical-scientific progress and innovations. At the same time, China faces big challenges in the fields of environment, energy, transport, health and foodstuffs.
Discover this exiting market during an economic mission from 16 to 22 November 2019, headed by HRH Princess Astrid.
On the program:
• Beijing: the political center of China and Shanghai, China’s commercial heart.
• As an option, Flanders Investment & Trade is offering a third destination: a program in Guangzhou or Hong Kong.
• During this multi-sectoral mission, Flanders will focus on cleantech, life sciences and sports & entertainment technology.
• Other key sectors which will be covered include: diamonds, agro-food, smart economy, artificial intelligence, robotics, space, transport and logistics, e-commerce, architecture, sustainability and tourism.
What to expect:
• Establish useful high-level contacts in one week.
• FIT will prepare a tailor-made program in Beijing, Shanghai and optionally in Guangzhou or Hong Kong, irrespective of the sector in which you are active.
• During seminars, visits and numerous networking moments, you will acquire a lot of information from your colleagues-entrepreneurs.
Registration is open till 19 August 2019.
Organization: Flanders Investment & Trade in cooperation with the Agency for Foreign Trade, AWEX and hub Brussels Invest & Export.
More information (in Dutch) is available on the FIT website.
Contact: Michèle Surinx, Area Manager East Asia
T: 02 504 87 91
E: michele.surinx@fitagency.be
President Xi Jinping gives keynote speech at Second Belt & Road Forum for International Cooperation
By : fcccadmin
Chinese President Xi Jinping (center) together with other state leaders attending the Second Belt and Road Forum
Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a keynote speech at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, held in Beijing from April 25 to 27. It is the diplomatic highlight of the year for China, with 37 state and government leaders in attendance, along with 5,000 other representatives from 150 countries. Cooperation agreements worth more than USD64 billion were signed at the CEO conference.
Leaders attending the Forum included Russian President Vladimir Putin, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Swiss President Ueli Maurer, Czech President Milos Zeman and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Spain was represented by Foreign Minister Josep Borrell Fontelles and the UK by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond.
The EU’s strategy for connecting Europe and Asia is greener and more sustainable than China’s BRI, but there remains scope for the two sides to work together, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said. He told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that Europe was happy to boost trade with China – currently worth about €1.6 billion a day – and cooperation on the Belt and Road, as long as Beijing dealt with the concerns of European businesses. Although the U.S. federal government is boycotting the BRI, California’s Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis said she was attending the event primarily to talk about climate change as she urged participants to prioritize the issue, and consider how the Belt and Road Initiative can drive positive action for this global threat.
President Xi did not pledge fresh capital to fund China’s ambitious “Belt and Road Initiative” and focused instead on “co-development”. Compared with the inaugural 2017 event, Xi’s speech was shorter and contained fewer concrete proposals. Instead, he focused more on deflecting criticism and doubts about the initiative. The Chinese President promised that the yuan would not be devalued, but kept stable within a reasonable range. He also said China would strengthen macro-economic policy coordination with other major economies. China does not intentionally seek trade surpluses, and the nation is willing to import more foreign agricultural products and services for more balanced trade. “China pays high regard to the implementation of bilateral and multilateral economic and trade agreements it has signed with other parties,” he said.
Xi said China would enforce cooperation with the international community on protection of intellectual property rights, and that China would end forced technology transfers, protect trademarks and trade secrets, and combat IP theft. China will hold its second import expo in November in Shanghai, Xi said, creating a platform for foreign businesses to enter the Chinese market. He said China would further cut tariffs and lower non-tariff barriers. Flows of commodities, capital, technology, and people were vital for economic growth. Xi said China would expand market access, slash negative lists to allow more foreign-controlled and wholly foreign-owned businesses in more sectors, and adopt supporting regulations to implement foreign investment laws and supply-side structural reform. The BRI would benefit “all of its participants” – not only China, Xi said as reported by the South China Morning Post.
Prior to the Forum, the Belt and Road News Network First Council Meeting was held in Beijing. President Xi Jinping called on media outlets from the countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative to tell the stories of the initiative in a way that shapes favorable public opinion for BRI cooperation. Xi said the BRI countries needed to uphold the spirit of the Silk Road and strive to build the initiative into a road leading to peace, prosperity, openness, green development and innovation, and one that brings together different cultures.
Two-way investment between China and economies related to the Belt and Road Initiative exceeded USD130 billion between 2013 and 2018. China’s direct investment in BRI-related countries grew by 5.2% annually on average to surpass USD90 billion between 2013 and 2018, Song Lihong, an official in the Ministry of Commerce’s Comprehensive Department, said at a news conference. In the same period, China had received a total of USD40 billion in inbound investment from BRI countries. In five years, the value of the projects completed by Chinese companies in BRI economies amounted to USD400 billion, while the trade in goods between China and BRI-related economies exceeded USD6 trillion in the same period, an average annual growth of 4%. Ma Yu, Researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the BRI provides a new impetus for the recovery of the world economy. The improvement in infrastructure, and digital-related manufacturing brought by the BRI will restore the development capacity of the world economy and bring new opportunities for partnerships between Chinese and local companies.
63% of Chinese corporations indicated that they plan to increase overseas investment by more than 10% in the next two years, and that the Belt and Road Initiative is key to that enthusiasm, according to a new survey by Baker McKenzie. The report, “The Age of Hypercomplexity,” is based on a survey of 600 C-suite and director-level executives in Australia, China, India, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. The survey found 81% of respondents expected the influence of China to increase most in the next five years. More than 80% of 200 respondents on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong see projects related to the Belt and Road Initiative as either fundamentally or hugely important to their business.
The Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the BRI published a report elaborating on the progress, contributions and prospects of the Belt and Road Initiative. The Belt and Road Initiative is an initiative for peaceful development and economic cooperation, rather than a geopolitical or military alliance, said the report. “It is a process of open, inclusive and common development, not an exclusionary bloc or a ‘China club. It neither differentiates between countries by ideology nor plays the zero-sum game,” according to the report.
So far, 126 countries and 29 international organizations have signed on to the BRI. The latests ones are Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Luxembourg, Jamaica, Peru, Italy, Barbados, Cyprus and Yemen.
The Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition opens
By : fcccadmin
The Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition opened on April 29 in Beijing’s Yanqing county, showcasing the diverse gardening cultures from China and around the world. With the theme of “Live Green, Live Better”, the Expo organizers and architects expressed their beliefs in a green lifestyle through the design of gardens and pavilions. Covering 503 hectares, 41 outdoor exhibition parks have been built by more than 80 countries and international organizations. There are 34 independent exhibition parks and seven jointly built ones. The China Pavilion, which covers 15,000 square meters, is a landmark at the Expo. With its design inspired by a traditional jade ornament, the pavilion incorporates age-old Chinese culture. Opening the Expo, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed the hope that the green development concept embodied by the Expo park would spread to “every corner of the world.”
86 countries and regions, as well as 24 international organizations are participating. The 162-day Expo is expected to receive 16 million visitors and offer 2,500 activities including academic conferences, horticulture competitions and flower parades, Gao Yan, Chairwoman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and an organizer of the Expo, said. The horticultural show, which organizers call “the Expo at the foot of the Great Wall”, is the largest international event China has held since the 2008 Olympics.
Leading-edge technologies employed at the Expo include 5G technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), a type of high-strength industrial plastic that can be used for construction. ETFE gives buildings a translucent coat and is also extremely flexible. 5G mobile connections will be available throughout all exhibition halls and some areas nearby. In the 5G exhibition hall, visitors will be able to watch 8,000-pixel high-definition videos and learn about progress in self-driving vehicle technology, telemedicine, drone logistics and transportation, and other 5G network applications. Visitors will also be able to download entire films in less than a second. Robots will serve at major pavilions, offering visitors information about the event, make coffee and do the cleaning.
Visitors can learn about “the harmony between human and nature” and the ecosystem comprising water, forests, fields, lakes and grass via digital images. Visitors can also admire miniature Chinese landscapes in the form of exquisite flower-embossing and flower-arranging. Besides the China Pavilion, 31 provinces, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, will showcase their horticulture in individual outdoor parks. The Beijing exhibition park will highlight courtyard culture to illustrate traditional Beijing family homes. The Yunnan Garden, for example, will replicate the rivers and mountains in the province to showcase the ethnic diversity, biodiversity and achievements in preserving the local ecosystem. Guangdong province will make an effort to present the essence of a Lingnan water town, including the traditional corridors, bridges and foyers.
The Plant Pavilion, one of the major stands at the expo, houses more than 20,0000 plants of 1,000 plant species. It will include more than 100 rare species and showcase beautiful plants from across the globe. In the German park, a wall of moss acts as a natural air purifier and will show a practical demonstration of an indoor garden. The event has an unprecedented scale with more than 110 countries and international organizations attending, the China Daily reports.
China Unicom launches 5G trial network in seven cities
By : fcccadmin
China Unicom announced the launch of its 5G trial network in seven cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Hangzhou, as well as Xiongan, an emerging area planned to undertake Beijing’s non-capital functions, according to Wang Xiaochu, Chairman of the China’s second-largest telecom carrier by subscriber numbers. In addition, China Unicom’s 5G network covers selected areas in 33 cities, with wider deployment of 5G private industrial networks in more cities dedicated for specific purposes, Wang said at a conference in Shanghai.
“5G is not only a technology upgrade of mobile communications. It is a transformation that will usher in an era where everything is smartly connected, thus creating new business opportunities,” he said. Wang called for open innovation in making 5G breakthroughs, through concerted efforts by equipment makers, industrial funds and even other telecom carriers. To this end, China Unicom has established a 5G application alliance bringing together 32 industrial players including automaker Dongfeng Motor, heavy industry manufacturer ZPMC, equipment maker Huawei and internet company Alibaba. Major initiatives under the alliance include raising CNY10 billion to incubate 5G-related projects and nurturing 20 specialized companies along the 5G industrial chain. Huawei also announced it developed the world’s first 5G car module, called MH5000, based on the Balong 5000 5G chip which it launched in January.
China Unicom also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Shanghai municipal government, pledging to invest a total of CNY15 billion by 2021 to help advance 5G networks and explore more application scenarios. The city, which already hosts 500 5G stations, is looking to build itself into a 5G pioneering venue. It aims to construct 10,000 5G base stations by the end of this year and 30,000 by 2021, said Zhang Jianming, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic and Informatization Commission. 5G-related companies will be listed on the upcoming science and technology innovation board.
Key components of China’s 5G industrial chain now stand “ready for commercialization”, with substantial progress being made in fields such as the industrial internet, connected cars, smart Winter Olympics and intelligent healthcare solutions, said Zhang Feng, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May has given the green light to Huawei to help build Britain’s new 5G network, despite warnings from the U.S. and some of her most senior ministers that it poses a risk to national security. The British National Security Council agreed to allow Huawei limited access to help build parts of the network such as antennas and other “non-core” infrastructure. The decision was taken five for versus five against, with the Prime Minister casting the deciding vote. As the decision was prematurely leaked to the press, an official enquiry was launched to find the source of the leak.
Huawei for the first time posted quarterly figures. Previously, it reported annually. The company said its revenue rose 39% year-on-year in the first quarter – thanks to booming 5G and smartphone sales – to CNY179.7 billion, with a net profit margin of 8%, slightly higher than in the same period last year. Huawei did not disclose its actual net profit. It had signed 40 contracts by April 15 to build and operate 5G telecommunication infrastructure.
Brussels Airport active on popular Chinese app WeChat
By : fcccadmin
Brussels Airport has launched its official WeChat account and issued the following press release. Brussels Airport has been active on the leading social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram for years in an effort to keep its passengers as well and as promptly informed as possible about the ins and outs at the airport. It has recently added a channel to this list: WeChat! This app is used mainly in China. Brussels Airport created an account to be able to communicate easier with its Chinese travelers and to help them find their way through the airport.
Unlike in the West, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram are not among the most used apps in China. WeChat (微信,Weixin) is the biggest player there, an app published by the Chinese firm Tencent in 2011. The app is difficult to compare with an app we know here. It comprises various apps such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and payment applications in one. With WeChat, you can thus manage accounts and purchase or pay for goods and services, such as an air ticket or a taxi. QR codes also constitute an important feature on the app. These codes are used primarily to add contacts and to pay for your favorite purchases in a shop.
Our Chinese travelers cannot always use our biggest social media channels in their country because of network security. To facilitate our communication with these travelers, Brussels Airport created a WeChat account.
In 2018, WeChat had 1.08 billion daily users. More than 50% of these users spent more than an hour and a half per day on the app. Last year, some 45 billion messages were sent and 410 million calls were made daily. It is high time therefore to jump on the bandwagon of this popular app!
To access Brussels Airport’s WeChat account, scan the QR code below:
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