Can Saudi-Arabia follow China and US as a leader in AI? – Winston Ma

 

Winston Ma

Winston Ma, an investor, attorney, author, and adjunct professor in the global digital economy, discusses at a Miami conference who can follow as leaders in AI for Arab News. He believes also countries like Saudi Arabia can follow those two leaders, although it does mean a lot of targeted investments.

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Needed: a coalition of China’s trade partners – Harry Broadman

 

Harry Broadman

Former White House official Harry Broadman discusses the future of relations between China and its trade partners. He hopes and expects that after Joe Biden takes over from current US President Donald Trump collective action between trade partners will be higher on the agenda, he tells Bloomberg. With a strong focus on Canada.

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Foreign brands have to become more political savvy in dealing with China - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

Foreign brands got into hot water when describing Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as independent countries. Business analyst Shaun Rein explains at the BBC it is not only the government fanning the flames but increasingly nationalistic consumers who boycott foreign brands stepping on political toes.

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Meng arrest: huge impact on business relations - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

The arrest on Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei CFO in Canada, has a huge impact on business relations, says Hurun chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf, who was in Canada for the Hurun Canada Fortune Forum on Sunday in Markham, to the China Daily.

The China Daily:

At a Hurun Canada Fortune Forum on Sunday in Markham, hundreds of business people from the Federation of Canadian Chinese Chamber of Commerce, along with Canadian government officials, gathered to discuss wealth management and trade between the two countries amid tensions over the Dec 1 arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the behest of the United States. 

The Hurun Report is recognized as an authority in tracking the rapid change among China's high net-worth individuals. 

The chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report, Rupert Hoogewerf, also known by his Chinese name Hu Run, said at the forum that the arrest of Meng has affected local businesses. 

"Everybody in our community is talking about it because it has impacted our business and travel, and we don't want to see this tension escalating," he said, adding that the globalization of wealth needs "more connection rather than disconnection". 

There has been a lot of wealth created in China over the last 20 years, and the current trend is to spread out and diversify such wealth to the rest of the world, Hoogewerf said. 

"The first choice is North America. We see the US and Canada are the preferred destinations for Chinese to live. Many Chinese want to do business in North America, but the current situation needs to be resolved first to facilitate trade and business activities," he said.

More at the China Daily. Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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How China can hit Canada - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

China threatened Canada with severe consequences after it arrested Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou on the request of the USA. Business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China's Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order, spells out what those consequences could be for AFP.

AFP:

China’s state-run Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, cited experts as saying the consequences may include trade sanctions, a degradation in bilateral ties and fewer visits to Canada by Chinese tourists and businesspeople. 

Canada exported goods worth US$18.2 billion to China last year, and it would be “very easy” for Beijing to shut down key energy and agricultural products with bans or boycotts, said Shaun Rein, the founder of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group. 

The spat could also endanger exploratory talks on a free trade agreement between Ottawa and Beijing that have been ongoing for two years. 

“I think the free trade agreement is definitely in a precarious situation, because Canada needs it with China more than China needs it with Canada, economically,” Rein said. 

China could also hit back by detaining an executive from a large Canadian company, Rein added.

More at AFP.

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NAFTA's 2.0 China poison pill will not work - Harry Broadman

Harry Broadman

Former NAFTA negotiator Harry Broadman predicts in Forbes the new trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico might not work in the way president Donald Trump wants it to.

Harry Broadman:

The victory proclaimed by the Trump Administration for its renegotiation of a “modernized” North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a hollow one. 

 Despite many months of wrangling with our closest neighbors to the North and South of us—our second and third largest trading partners—in fact, few substantive changes have been introduced to the 1994 pact. But that hasn’t stopped the White House from touting the deal. Why?  Because Mr. Trump and his trade team see NAFTA 2.0 as the model to tame nations outside our hemisphere—especially the use of it as the vehicle to proliferate a poison pill lying at the heart of the agreement the U.S. wants to be deployed to corner China and clip its wings from engaging in pernicious trade practices. 

But there are two fundamental barriers to this scenario playing out.  First, Washington will find it tough going to sell this framework to countries with whom there isn’t a pre-existing agreement similar to NAFTA to be amended.  Second, as a practical matter, the U.S.-inserted Chinese poison pill will turn out to be of little therapeutic value, not only for changing Beijing’s conduct but also for inducing other countries to actually exercise this provision. 

Following the announcement on September 30, 2018 concluding the negotiation of the new “United States Mexico Canada Agreement” (USMCA), initially the press focused on the most apparent accomplishment to come out from tension-filled trade talks: the seemingly innocuous re-branding of the original NAFTA. ( whose name I will admit to having fondness for, in part since I was a member of the early 1990s NAFTA negotiation team). 

Perhaps it’s a bit unfair to blame the press for its undue attention to the change in name, which quickly proved to be an awkward choice.  After all, even the President’s top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, had trouble pronouncing the new moniker the day of the announcement. 

But what didn’t fully sink into the press was the substantive import of the dropping of the words “Free Trade” from the new deal. The change is no accident.

More in Forbes.

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Trump focuses trade war on China - Arthur Kroeber

Arthur Kroeber

The new trade agreement between the US, Mexico, and Canada (USMCA)  excluded possible free-trade agreements between the three with China. Trump has its hands free to focus his trade war on China, says economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, at the South China Morning Post. 

The South China Morning Post:

After US-imposed tariffs on an additional US$200 billion worth of Chinese products last month and China’s subsequent rejection of a US invitation to hold talks to ease the dispute, Chinese President Xi Jinping toured his country’s northern rust-belt region, sending a message that China would have to rely on itself for future development. 

Arthur Kroeber, research head and co-founder of the economic consulting firm Gavekal Dragonomics, wrote in a note on Tuesday that the USMCA may put an end to Trump’s trade position of “picking fights with anyone and everyone”. Washington, he said, would focus its fire on the nation it perceives as the real trade enemy: China. 

“The US has confined its economic warfare to a single battlefield, but the fight will be a long one,” Kroeber said.

More at the South China Morning Post.

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Mexico trade deal puts more pressure on China - Wang Haiyan

Wang Haiyan

US president Trump closed a trade deal with Mexico, a minor victory, but putting more pressure on the trade negotiations with China, says business analyst Wang Haiyan at CGTN. For the time being, Trump can afford to play tough on China, she says.

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Getting to know your China investors might be tough - Victor Shih

Victor Shih

Some concern emerged in Canada when an investment company Leadon Investment Inc had invested US$1 billion in local hotels. Getting to know who is behind those investment vehicles with a China background might be very hard to discover, says financial analyst Victor Shih to the Vancouver Sun.

The Vancouver Sun:

“The problem is that wealthy Asian investors are practised at setting up a series of shell companies to hide their identities,” said Victor Shih, who used to work for the Carlyle Group’s hedge fund arm in New York and is researching the impact of elite networks in China at the University of California, San Diego.

Victoria-based BCIMC is choosing to sell at a time when international capital, especially from mainland China, has shown keen interest in hotel properties as well as trophy office space across North America. 

China’s Anbang Insurance Group paid almost $2 billion for the Waldorf Astoria in New York in 2014. In Canada, Bluesky Hotels and Resorts Inc, a company that says it is backed by capital from Hong Kong and that is connected to Anbang, bought InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust and its 90-plus hotels in Canada in a $2.1 billion deal last year. Anbang also later, through InnVest, bought the Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel. Anbang also paid over $1 billion to buy the Bentall Centre in downtown Vancouver.

Of interest in all these deals is the federal government’s threshold for reviewing foreign acquisitions, which is $600 million. In April, it will move to $700 million. 

It’s not known exactly what questions or hurdles must be cleared in order for deals to get the green light from Ottawa. Law firms have, in the past, suggested a basic list might at least include information about controlling shareholders. 

Shih has observed Anbang’s various deals as well as the ones that have not proceeded because of intense scrutiny over not being able to tell who owns it. 

“As the yuan weakens and as Chinese growth slows, there is rapidly rising demand among Chinese and Hong Kong investors to diversify out of the region,” Shih said. “That has created a windfall for sellers in North America.”  

As for the risks of not being able to understand the ownership of acquiring companies when there is a large deal, he said: “First, the layers of shell companies buyers use make it difficult to ascertain whether buyers obtained the funds legally or ethically to begin with. Besides corruption income, millions of Chinese investors have been defrauded of billions of dollars by unscrupulous criminals. Obviously, funds derived from fraud would be problematic. 

“More recently, the other risk is the imposition of strict capital control by the Chinese government, which prevented Chinese investors from delivering funds to overseas sellers. That has already created problems for a number of property and entertainment deals in the U.S.”

More in the Vancouver Sun. Victor Shih is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

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Trade balance: not a straight forward win-win - Victor Shih

Victor Shih

After the election of Donald Trump as US president and the possible derailment of Sino-US relations, other countries, like Canada, see opportunities in making trade deals. But striking a balance in trade relations is never straight forward, warns political analyst Victor Shih in the Globe&Mail.

The Globe&Mail:

New scholarship adds grounds for skepticism. In “The China shock,” a recent academic article, an international team of researchers showed that the extraordinary rise of Chinese exports since 2001 eradicated millions of U.S. jobs with only “extremely modest offsetting employment.” In other words, they found, after the decade of frenzied trade that followed China’s accession to the World Trade Organization, “U.S. net welfare gains are close to zero.” 

It suggests the need for “a more balanced view about the benefits and pitfalls of free trade,” said Victor Shih, a China scholar at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. 

Another point of caution lies in China today, which has pushed a plan called Made in China 2025 to massively grow domestic capacity in robots, aeronautical equipment, rail and advanced medical products, among others – some of which overlap with Canada’s areas of expertise. 

“It may not make so much sense to rush headlong into lowering trade barriers with China, because across a large number of sectors the Chinese government is heavily subsidizing industrial goods producers,” Prof. Shih said. 

“Politicians and voters really have to think about this carefully.”

More in the Globe&Mail.

Victor Shih is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

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Why Canada (and others) should help catch corrupt officials - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

China has been claiming huge success in their "fox hunt", an effort to retrive corrupt officials who fled abroad to escape prosecution. Canada was a main safe haven for them. Business analyst Shaun Rein explains in the Globe&Mail why helping China is a good idea, despite misgivings about the country´s judicial system.

The Globe&Mail:

“China likes to use trade to favour countries who are being nice to them, and when they are not nice, they are punished,” said Shaun Rein, founder of China Market Research Group. In that respect, he said, Ottawa is being savvy by engaging in discussions with Beijing. But many international law experts and diplomats warn that Fox Hunt is fraught with many tripwires, beginning with China’s opaque — if not brutal — legal system where the charges originate... 

“Some Canadians might think, do we want these kinds of people living here?” said Mr. Rein, who is also author of The End of Cheap China. “A lot of these people are rotten.” Mr. Rein also suggested that the deal is not as one-sided as it seems. By signing a reciprocation deal, Canadian officials can better track who is living and working in Canada and not paying taxes.

More in the Globe&Mail.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

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US, UK top destinations for study – Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

Both the US and the UK retain their top positions as a destination for study, reveals the Hurun Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey. They are followed by Australia and Canada. Surprising newcomer is New Zealand at not five, Hurun founder Rupert Hoogewerf tells in the PieNews.

The PieNews:

The top five destinations for undergraduate and postgraduate study were the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, the survey by luxury publishing and events group Hurun Report shows. 

This is the first year New Zealand has entered the top five, overtaking Switzerland. “New Zealand breaking into the ‘Big 5’ shows how far it has come to building a global education programme, attracting many of China’s most successful families to send their children to study there,” commented Rupert Hoogewerf, the Hurun Report’s founder, chairman and chief researcher. 

“New Zealand’s all-round education system is able to compete at the very highest levels in the world.” 

Survey respondents also nominated their favourite study abroad education agencies, with BE Education voted the best high-end overseas study brand. 

Shinyway was voted China’s best education agency for consumers heading to the US, while Haiyi was dubbed the best education agency for Switzerland. 

Hoogewerf noted that 80% of wealthy families in China now intend to send their children overseas. The average age for millionaires to send their children abroad for study is 16, while the average for billionaires is 18. 

Now in its 11th year, the report is based on a survey of 376 Mainland Chinese ‘millionaires’, each worth RMB10m (US$1.6m) and with an average wealth of $6.8 million.

More in the PieNews.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Finding a study destination is often a first step, followed by purchasing real estate and other investments, by wealthy Chinese. Are you interested in more experts on China´s outbound investments at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check our latest list.

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80% of China´s rich plan to send their kids abroad - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

The story China´s rich send their kids abroad is not new, but their numbers are growing and the ages of the kids are dropping, found the latest Hurun report. And says Hurun founder Rupert Hoogerwerf, they go to more different countries, he tells at Yibada.com.

Yibada:

The report, according to Xinhua, found that some 80 percent of the country's rich people have plans to send their children abroad, the highest ratio in the world. 

Also, the report found that these rich people are most likely to send their children to the U.S. and the U.K., while other countries like Australia, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, Singapore, France and Germany attract most of the rest. 

Finally, the report said that the latest average age of the millionaires' children is 16 years old when they were sent abroad. 

The publisher of the monthly magazine, Rupert Hoogewerf, also known as Hurun, observed that 10 years ago, Chinese rich people could only send their children to Canada and Australia because there were a large number of Chinese people already living there. Now, because the Chinese rich people have a much broader social network, he said "they can find trusted people anywhere in the world and can rest assured sending children to any country." 

Hurun's the "Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey 2014" came from a poll of 400 Chinese parents who each had at least 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) in disposable income, according to China Daily. 

For undergraduate study, completing it in the U.S. tops the list among China's richest parents, with the U.K. second and Australia third. For a university degree, U.K. is their first choice and the U.S. as second for their children. 

Hoogewerf told China Daily: "We have been keeping a keen eye on overseas education as it indicates a trend in emigration. It is common practice for the rich to send their children overseas as a first step before they move to the country themselves when the children finish their education." 

Also, education has long been considered a high priority in China. On average, the country's high-net-worth individuals spend 170,000 yuan (about $27,000), to educate each of their children. This was the third-highest area of their spending, after travel and luxury goods, according to IB Times.

More at Yibada

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

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