USCBC Bulletin

Event Wrap Up

Washington

January

Roundtable Discussion on Conducting Government Affairs in China

Featured the US-China Business Council's Director of Business Advisory Services Julie Walton.

Issues Luncheon

Featured Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Sullivan, Assistant US Trade Representative Timothy Stratford, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce Ira Kasoff, who discussed the December 2007 Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade and Strategic Economic Dialogue meetings.

Forecast 2008 Reception and Conference

(see below)

February

Briefing on Energy Efficiency and Bio-Fuels in China

Featured Amy Chiang, director of International Affairs, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy.

Briefing on Negative Attitudes toward Foreign Investment in China

Featured Jingzhou Tao, partner at the Beijing office of Jones Day.

Shanghai

January

Issues Luncheon on China's Economy in 2008

Featured Andy Xie, guest economist at Caijing Magazine and former chief China economist at Morgan Stanley.

February

Issues Luncheon on China's Evolving Energy Policies

Featured Zhang Libin, partner at Baker Botts LLP, and George Ko, general manager, Honeywell Building Solutions.

Beijing

February

Breakfast Workshop on China's Labor Regulations

Featured Jiang Junlu, partner, King & Wood PRC Lawyers, and Chris Lin, labor counsel, General Electric Co.

Upcoming Events

Washington

Issues Luncheons

March 20, 2008
April 17, 2008
May 15, 2008

35th Annual Membership Meeting

June 3, 2008

For more information on USCBC events, see www.uschina.org

USCBC Hosts Forecast 2008 Conference, Reception

Member company executives gathered in Washington, DC, on January 31 to hear experts analyze the year ahead at the US-China Business Council's (USCBC) 27th annual Forecast Conference.

Predicting that China's economic growth in 2008 will likely slow modestly to about 9.5 percent, Jay Bryson, a director and global economist at Wachovia Corp., argued that China's economy is less dependent on exports to the United States than is widely assumed and that a US slowdown may have only a marginal impact on PRC economic growth. Bryson also predicted steady appreciation of the renminbi against the US dollar. In the political realm, Joseph Fewsmith, a leading expert on Chinese domestic politics at Boston University, detailed some of the important personnel changes that emerged from last fall's Chinese Communist Party congress and how President Hu Jintao may manage his second five-year term. Fewsmith also traced the emergence of nationalistic voices to debates within Chinese intellectual circles during the 1990s and noted that US companies should be aware of the possible impact of this nationalism.

Halfway into the morning session, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab outlined the administration's 2008 trade agenda for China in an off-the-record speech. During the second half of the morning program, Gallup Organization Senior Methodologist Rajesh Srinivasan presented trends and projections about Chinese consumers. Drawing on 12 years of in-country polling on consumer behavior and attitudes, Gallup data show that international brand recognition among twenty-something Chinese consumers is relatively high, but "made in China" brands are also appealing and have been able to compete vigorously for consumer loyalty. Closing the expert panel session was USCBC Shanghai Chief Representative Godfrey Firth, who reported that US companies in China expect another year of growing sales, though recent changes in the labor contract and tax regimes pose new operating challenges.

The conference concluded with a luncheon keynote address by William Cohen, former US secretary of Defense and chair and CEO of the Cohen Group, who discussed strategic issues to watch in the US-China relationship.

The evening before the conference, USCBC hosted a reception for member companies, US government and PRC Embassy officials, and other luminaries in academia and the China field. Attended by roughly 130 guests, the reception introduced incoming PRC Embassy Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission Xie Feng to the audience. Xie is well known to USCBC from his previous post as deputy director-general for North American Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing.

Conference participants received a packet of USCBC reports, many of which are now available at www.uschina.org. USCBC appreciates the support of its member companies and the speakers in making Forecast 2008 a success.

In his first public appearance, Minister Xie Feng, deputy chief of Mission, PRC Embassy, addressed USCBC guests at the Forecast reception.	Nancy Nord, acting chair of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission; Stapleton Roy, managing director of Kissinger Associates Inc.; Minister Feng
Mark K. Spears, director, Corporate Compliance, and Jun Tang, senior vice president, China Affairs, the Walt Disney Co.; Feng	John Frisbie, USCBC president; Stephen L. Johnson, Environmental Protection Agency administrator
During the Forecast conference, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab delivered the morning keynote address on the 2008 trade agenda with China.	William Cohen, former US secretary of Defense and chair and CEO, the Cohen Group, delivered the luncheon keynote address.
Godfrey Firth, Shanghai chief representative, USCBC	Judy Zakreski, vice president, US Operations, Chindex International, Inc.
Photos by sardari.com