CBBC went to the Labour and Conservative party conferences earlier this month. Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles (chair) joins the China Business Brief to give his readout on how both parties are developing their respective foreign and economic policies vis-a-vis China and what businesses can expect in the near-term future from a new government under Prime …

A lot has happened in China over the course of the year so far, much of which has been in anticipation of next month's Party Congress. Andrew Seaton (CEO, China-Britain Business Council) joins Joe Cash for a refresher, as China watchers the world over turn their attention to next month's meeting and wonder whether it might bring about any change to…

Over February and March of this year, early-stage investment by venture capitalists in China declined by as much as 90% compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, foreign investors pulled out £23 billion worth of Chinese bonds, representing the largest outflow since the beginning of China's bond market. Such numbers have led some commentators to sug…

Worries about the health of the Chinese economy are mounting. Despite the respectable growth of 4.8% for the first quarter of this year, several indicators suggest that it is starting to come under considerable strain. Last month’s economic data showed an economy that is struggling in the face of multiple headwinds: April’s Purchasing Manager Index…

China can be a complex and challenging market for new exporters. While the country holds huge potential for small and medium sized (SMEs) companies from across a wide range of sectors, for sure, getting your company in front of China’s 1.4 billion consumers will first require you to get to grips with a raft of market barriers and its regional diver…

China’s political leaders have just completed their big annual meetings known as the ‘Two Sessions’ or LiangHui. The meetings are important every year, in that they demonstrate Beijing’s priorities for the economy in the year ahead. This year’s event was particularly notable for the government's emphasis on stability, despite the meetings taking pl…

China's policymakers have been busy upgrading the country's cybersecurity regime. Over the last couple of years, the Cybersecurity Law (2016) has evolved and been joined by a whole host of accompanying legislation, including the Personal Information Protection Law and the Data Security Law of last year. In short: Beijing has made clear that data mu…

2021 was a tumultuous year in EU-China relations. It began with both sides celebrating the agreement of a new investment deal. Its end was marked by the worst crisis in relations between Brussels and Beijing since 1981—with Lithuania imitating the Dutch diplomats that came before and recalling its representatives as Vilnius' bilateral relationship …

2021 was supposed to be a big year in Chinese financial and professional services policy. Following the agreement in principle of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment late last year, analysts and financiers alike expected financial liberalisation to be high on the agenda as Brussels and Beijing sat down to ratify the deal over the cou…

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles (Chair, China-Britain Business Council) speaks to Joe Cash on how his distinguished career within the British foreign service prepared him to join the ongoing debate on the UK's future economic relationship with China. The views expressed in the China Business Brief podcast are those of invited contributors and not necessar…

Following a spate of consumer boycotts in March and the announcement of the government's goal of Common Prosperity over the summer, one could (easily!) be forgiven for assuming that the China market is turning its back on foreign luxury goods brands. But demand for British brands remains strong, and the market is "buoyant", says Adam Knight (Co-fou…

This week on the China Business Brief, the China-Britain Business Council’s in-house policy team talk through some of the meanings that have been assigned to the Chinese government’s goal to achieve Common Prosperity. As Torsten Weller (CBBC’s UK-based policy analyst) explains, the term finds its origins in 1950s Maoist China but has come a long wa…

What is going on with China's Evergrande Group? The property giant has dominated the headlines of late, with many analysts drawing comparisons with America's Lehman Brothers - the implication being that the company's demise could lurch the global economy into a crash. Joining the China Business Brief this week is Alicia Garcia-Herrero (Chief Econom…

What role do the UK’s higher education institutes and research & development centres play in the country’s broader relationship with China? How has the political conversation regarding the presence of Chinese students on campuses across the UK evolved? Where should British universities seeking to engage with China more focus their efforts? This wee…

This week on the China Business Brief, Professor Todd Hall shares his top tips for ‘China watching’, in a wide-ranging discussion with Joe Cash on the most common punditry pitfalls afflicting those in the business of analysing China’s current affairs. Spoiler alert: the term ‘China watching’ makes its way onto the list! The director of the Universi…

China's Belt & Road Initiative is back in the spotlight. Indeed, it looks as if Central Asia is poised to make a return to the centre of China's strategic affairs and foreign policy planning more broadly. The fall of Kabul to the Taliban last weekend raises a number of geo-political questions, not least how - or indeed whether - China will look to …

With business travel between the UK and China more or less suspended, it can be hard to get a sense of what's occupying the minds of the business community in China. So for this episode of the China Business Brief, we've tried to condense what we're hearing across the CBBC's China network into a 10-minute primer for anyone trying to keep abreast of…

In this episode, CBBC examines China's latest census data in the context of the emerging economic divide between the country's North and South. While entrepreneurship flourishes in the South, a rust-belt malaise appears to be deepening in the North, in the provinces surrounding Beijing and across Central China. China's Southern provinces are outper…

UK companies operating in China are beholden to an increasing number of cybersecurity regulations. These influence a raft of business activities, including the ease with which a Chinese subsidiary of a multinational company can share customer or R&D data with other parts of the business; how businesses store data; and how corporate entities interac…

China's population is now 1.4 billion, but more than 800 million people live in rural areas. They are workers, the families of migrant workers, the elderly, and the children that reside in villages and migrant communities across the nation. They are Scott Rozelle's "Invisible China". But how do these people fit into the China Dream and the state's …

When does a big tech giant become too big? It’s a question that seems to have been on the mind of officials within China’s State Administration for Market Regulation of late. But why have Jack Ma’s fintech subsidiary Ant Group and the food-delivery platform Meituan attracted the attention of the regulators recently? In this episode, Joe Cash talks …

China’s political leaders have just completed their big annual meetings known as the ‘Two Sessions’ or lianghui. The meetings are important every year, in that they demonstrate Beijing’s priorities for the economy in the year ahead. This year’s event held even more significance than normal, as the leadership finalized and passed its latest Five Yea…

It's been a busy few weeks in the world of international trade deals. The UK has sealed a free trade agreement with the EU, and is now applying to join the CPTPP, which to date has had only Asian and North American members. Meanwhile the EU has inked a big investment deal with China. CBBC's two China policy analysts, Joe Cash and Torsten Weller, ar…

2020 was tough year for anyone involved in business, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world. But with China's economy already well on the way to recovery, there are signs of hope for British companies that export to or do business in the world's second-largest economy. In this episode, CBBC chief executive Matthew Rous talks about the year ahead,…

China's top policy makers have been meeting to decide on their economic and foreign policy agenda for the coming year. In this episode, CBBC policy analyst Torsten Weller talks us through the main points that have become clear to date. China is set to be one of the very few major economies to experience positive growth this year. But there are plen…

In the second episode of this new podcast from the China-Britain Business Council, Andrew Peaple talks to CBBC executive director for public affairs Lise Bertelsen about two interesting recent reports that shed light on the state of economic ties between the UK and China, and the benefits those ties can bring. The first report, from Cambridge Econo…

This is the first episode of a new podcast from China-Britain Business Council entitled ‘China Business Brief’, in which we will discuss topics that are important for anyone doing business in or with China. In this episode, Andrew Peaple talks to CBBC analyst Torsten Weller about the UK’s new National Security & Investment Bill: How it changes the …