19 April, 2018
AmCham China’s 2018 Government Affairs Conference
By Yongjia Chen
On April 19, AmCham China held its fourth annual Government Affairs Conference. The theme for this year’s conference was “Value and Practice of Government Affairs in the New Era”. First Organized by our Chinese Government Affairs Committee in 2015, the event brought together government affairs (GA) professionals from AmCham China’s membership to gather and share best practices and discuss common issues.
Distinguished panelists join at AmCham China to discuss policy.
In the 40th year of China’s policy of Reform and Opening and a critical moment of Sino-US relations, the event brought attentions of government affairs professionals from various industries.This year, Tthe event featured three keynote speakers including Xiaoqiang Zhang, executive vice president at China Center for International Economic Exchanges, Yang Yao, dean at Peking University’s National School of Development, and Jinping Zhao, director-general of the Research Department of Foreign Economic Relations at Development Research Center of the State Council. The keynote speeches covered issues ranging from China’s new business cycle, economic opening up, use of foreign capital, and recent US-China trade frictions.
The panel discussion at the conference was centered around the topic of “GA’s Value and Practice”. The four GA professionals that joined the panel discussion were Fengming Liu, GE vice president and greater China region’s president for government affairs and policy, Haiying Yuan, president at Yuan Associates, Xin Guo, president and CEO Of Career International (Hong Kong) Limited, and Gloria Xu, greater China region’s general manager of public & government affairs at Dow Chemical (China) Investment Co., Ltd. Panels shared their experience and insights on different aspects of government affairs work, which include the changing contexts of doing GA in China, the new requirements and expectations of GA professionals, as well as the role of GA in companies’ business operation.
The event received a lot of positive feedback from attendees and speakers. As trade tensions between the world's two largest economies increase and as the Chinese government undertakes a significant reshuffle following the Two Sessions, the government affairs profession in China is more important than ever. AmCham China will continue offering platforms for exchanging government affairs insights, analyzing current economic and political trends, sharing foreign enterprises' challenges and opportunities in China, discussing the values of government affairs in China, and sharing best practices.
Guests attentively listen to the panel discussion and share insight about current government affairs.