Human rights on back-burner in China trade - Ben Cavender

+Benjamin Cavender 

When UK premier David Cameron had a cup of tea with the Dalai Lama earlier this year, the China trade was hit badly. As one UK trade missions are tumbling over each other this month in China, human rights are no longer a popular subject, notes business analyst Ben Cavender in CNBC.
CNBC:

"World leaders in general, after the economic climate we've had over the last couple years, are backing off the human rights issues and are instead looking at what you can do to draw investment from China," said Ben Cavender, associate principal at China Market Research Group. 

"Overall, it's been put on a back burner. China has shown they're committed to economic development, including in the poorer regions," he said. "Countries are losing the will to press on that too much. They need the economic ties much more than China does at this point." 

Highlighting Chinese investments in the U.K. may be driven in part by the government shutdown drama in the U.S., he noted. 

"China's government is looking to diversify investment away from the U.S.," he said. 

"China may be looking at other countries as good investment targets, Cavender said, noting the U.K. is business friendly and that it may be getting a lot of funds the Chinese might otherwise funnel toward the U.S.

More in CNBC.

Ben Cavender 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.

China Weekly Hangout

Tourism to the UK was hit severely after David Cameron met the Dalai Lama. Tourism expert Roy Graff told The +China Weekly Hangout on June 20 how government relations work out in tourism. Moderation by +Fons Tuinstra of the China Speakers Bureau.

Devastating pictures of tourist areas in the Golden week of October showed again that taking a holiday together with 428 million others is not always a good idea, even though a growing number might go abroad. The now adjusted system of Golden Week was introduced to encourage consumer spending – still high on the political agenda. But would a paid leave, where you can decide yourself your holidays, be a good alternative? Some love the ideal, others loath it. And what is worse, many Chinese would most likely not take their holidays, but try to cash in at the end of the year. That would cause consumer spending to drop. What would you do? How did you spend your holidays in October, and what would be a good alternative? Join the +China Weekly Hangout on Thursday 17 October, 10pm Beijing Time, 4pm CEST(Europe) and 10am EST (US/Canada). You can leave your remarks here, but during the event you can also ask questions and remarks using the Question tool at the event page here. At the event page you can also register for participation at the hangout. (You can read our initial announcement here.)

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Dalai Lama "a poorly advised political strategist" - Howard French

Howard French

The 77th birthday of the Dalai Lama has been celebrated low-key, but has triggered off also some critical analysis, like here in FirstPost. It quotes long-time China correspondent Howard French, arguing the Dalai Lama should have changed its strategy a decade ago.

FirstPost:

“The Dalai Lama is a great and charismatic spiritual figure, but a poor and poorly advised political strategist,” wrote Howard French, a long time foreign correspondent for the New York Times. “The Dalai Lama should have closed down the Hollywood strategy a decade ago and focused on back-channel diplomacy with Beijing. He should have publicly renounced the claim to a so-called Greater Tibet, which demands territory that was never under the control of the Lhasa government. Sending his envoys to talk about talks with the Chinese while simultaneously encouraging the global pro-Tibet lobby has achieved nothing.” 

The Hollywood trap keeps the Dalai Lama as the nostalgic reminder of a simpler time, a romantic counterweight to an aggressive China, a salve for our materialistic money-grubbing selves. The tragedy of Tibet is its plight is what keeps it alive in western consciousness. The Dalai Lama has made his people the posterchildren of what Pico Iyer calls “one of the fastest growing nations of the world – the land of the deracinated (since by some counts there are now one hundred million refugees in the world, part of a tribe that is twice as populous as Australia and Canada combined)”. And he has done this just by being himself – a twinkling man with an infectious laugh carrying the yellow card of a refugee.

More in FirstPost.

Howard French 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.