The launch of the British Business in China: Position Paper 2024 in Beijing on May 22, 2024 Photo: Yin Yeping/GT
China's market for business has seen significant improvement and substantial changes over the past 15 years and is generally moving in the right direction, Julian Fisher, chair of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, said in an interview with the Global Times on Wednesday. Fisher also shared his insights on the potential for bilateral cooperation in the electric vehicle (EV) sector, where China holds competitive advantages.
His comments were made on Wednesday on the sidelines of the launch of the British Business in China: Position Paper 2024. The paper outlines the positive changes and opportunities perceived by British companies in China, while addressing remaining concerns and challenges. These firms anticipate more positive changes to take place so they can further tap into the potential of the world's second-largest economy.
In his interview with the Global Times, Fisher said that the improvement in the business climate has been significant.
"When I came to China in 2005, it was an incredibly challenging place for international businesses to operate," Fisher said, naming things like intellectual property rights and copyright concerns.
"But that's no longer the case," he said, giving credit to an effective system for managing things like trademark infringement.
The British chamber has welcomed many changes in the Chinese market this year, the Global Times learned from the chamber on Wednesday.
For example, the chamber has been very pleased to see the impact of its advocacy in the education sector, with numerous crucial policy changes being implemented.
Following consistent advocacy in recent years on behalf of vocational education, last year the Chinese government announced that 115 vocational qualifications, mostly international, would be added to its whitelist, making them legally recognized, the chamber said in the position paper.
This change has brought crucial benefits to a wide array of British education providers and represents an important shift toward a more holistic policy approach to China's educational landscape, according to the chamber.
Cybersecurity regulations became a top multi-sector regulatory issue faced by chamber business members in the British Business in China: Sentiment Survey 2023-24 which was released in December.
At the Wednesday release of the position paper, the chamber said that the Chinese government has sought to address this through increased regulatory flexibility and clarity, notably through exemptions, pilot zones and provisions to provide systematic categorization standards. The chamber welcomes these changes and encourages further action.
The chamber was pleased to see several breakthroughs that considerably improved the regulatory landscape for cross-border data transfers in the first half of 2024, according to the position paper released on Wednesday.
British companies are excited by Chinese plans to foster a more transparent and predictable policy environment, while anticipating "demonstratable changes."
As to the financial sector, a key area of bilateral cooperation, the chamber said that China's vast market remains a steady factor attracting investment from financial services businesses. British businesses are confident in strong demand for international equities and fixed-income products from Chinese consumers.
The chamber anticipates more changes, including a further reduced negative list for foreign businesses, among others.
When it comes to the potential for strengthening bilateral cooperation between China and the UK, Fisher noted sectors such as EVs.
"We don't have a massive EV industry in the UK and we do import a lot of cars from Japan, the US and Europe. So, I think that there are opportunities here for the UK to engage in China a little bit differently [from others]," Fisher said.
"But that will depend on how China engages with the UK and the rest of the world. It will also depend on how the UK government decides to align itself or not align itself on certain issues," Fisher noted.
"Brexit was a big challenge for the UK both in terms of our trade and our reputation. But perhaps now one of the benefits we're seeing is we can operate independently from the EU and from the US and from everyone else, so that we can chart our own path," Fisher said, noting that in his personal opinion, the EV sector might be one area where both sides can work together.
Just like many other foreign firms, British businesses have been profiting from the booming Chinese market for many years, and the current potential in China, especially in emerging sectors like new energy and artificial intelligence, is substantial for them to tap into, Yang Chengyu, an associate research fellow at the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday. As China continues to open up its market, with the further implementation of a series of highly facilitative measures for foreign businesses, the country will draw more foreign investors from countries including the UK, Yang said.
中国英国商会主席朱利安·费舍尔（Julian Fisher）周三在接受《环球时报》采访时表示，中国的商业市场在过去15年中取得了显着改善和实质性变化，总体上正朝着正确的方向发展。
费舍尔还分享了他对电动汽车（EV）领域双边合作潜力的见解，中国在电动汽车领域拥有竞争优势。他周三在《在华英国企业建议书：2024年》发布会期间发表了上述评论。
建议书概述了英国企业在中国感受到的积极变化和机遇，同时解决了仍然存在的担忧和挑战。这些公司预计会发生更多积极的变化，以便进一步挖掘世界第二大经济体的潜力。费舍尔在接受《环球时报》采访时表示，商业环境的改善是显着的。“当我2005年来到中国时，对于国际企业来说，这是一个非常具有挑战性的地方，”费舍尔说，并列举了知识产权和版权问题。
“但现在情况已不再如此，”他说，并称赞中国具有有效管理商标侵权等问题的系统。《环球时报》周三从英国商会获悉，英国商会今年对中国市场的许多变化表示欢迎。例如，商会非常高兴地看到其倡导在教育部门的影响，并实施了许多重要的政策变化。
该商会在建议书中表示，近年来，中国政府一直倡导职业教育，去年宣布将增加115个职业资格，其中大部分是国际职业资格，使其得到法律认可。该商会表示，这一变化为众多英国教育机构带来了重要利益，并代表了向更全面的中国教育格局政策方法的重要转变。
在去年12月发布的《在华英国企业：2023-24年信心调查》中，网络安全法规成为商会成员面临的首要多部门监管问题。在周三发布的建议书中，商会表示，中国政府试图通过提高监管灵活性和清晰度来解决这个问题，特别是通过豁免、试点区和提供系统分类标准的规定。
商会欢迎这些变化，并鼓励采取进一步行动。
根据周三发布的建议书，商会很高兴看到2024年上半年跨境数据传输的监管环境有了重大改善。英国公司对中国计划营造更加透明和可预测的政策环境感到乐观，同时期待“可证明的变化”。至于金融领域，这是双边合作的一个关键领域，商会表示，中国广阔的市场仍然是吸引金融服务企业投资的稳定因素。
英国企业对中国消费者对国际股票和固定收益产品的强劲需求充满信心。商会预计会有更多变化，包括进一步减少对外国企业的负面清单等。
在谈到加强中英双边合作的潜力时，费舍尔提到了电动汽车等行业。“我们在英国没有大规模的电动汽车产业，我们确实从日本、美国和欧洲进口了很多汽车。因此，我认为英国有机会与中国打交道，与其他国家略有不同，“费舍尔说。“但这将取决于中国如何与英国和世界其他地区接触。这也将取决于英国政府如何决定在某些问题上保持一致或不保持一致，“费舍尔指出。
“英国脱欧对英国来说是一个巨大的挑战，无论是在我们的贸易还是我们的声誉方面，但也许现在我们看到的好处之一是我们可以独立于欧盟、美国和其他所有人运营，这样我们就可以规划自己的道路，“费舍尔说，并指出在他个人看来，电动汽车行业可能是双方可以合作的一个领域。
中国社会科学院欧洲研究所副研究员杨成宇说，就像许多其他外国公司一样，英国企业多年来一直从蓬勃发展的中国市场中获利，目前在中国的潜力，特别是在新能源和人工智能等新兴领域，对他们来说是巨大的。杨成宇周三告诉《环球时报》。
杨成宇称，随着中国继续开放市场，随着一系列对外国企业高度便利化的措施的进一步实施，该国将吸引更多来自英国等国家的外国投资者。
