This episode contains segments on:
- China calling on hotels to accept foreign guests;
- Utilised foreign direct investment and industrial profits from January to April;
- The EU’s corporate sustainability due diligence directive.
Also, the European Chamber will hold a breakfast roundtable on June 6th in Beijing. Listeners are welcome to attend the event, where Dr Scott Rozelle will share his perspective on China’s latest human capital trends.
Contact:
We’d love to hear your feedback. Contact us at website@europeanchamber.com.cn.
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Read more:
China tells hotels not to refuse foreign guests
https://www.gov.cn/hudong/202405/content_6952770.htm
China’s utilised FDI, January-April (MOFCOM)
http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/article/xwfb/xwsjfzr/202405/20240503512491.shtml
China industrial profits, January-April (NBS)
https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202405/t20240527_1956067.html
European Council adopts CSDDD
European Chamber event:
Transcript:
RUI: Hello and welcome to China ShortCuts,
MARIANN: the European Chamber’s weekly catchup on China’s business landscape.
RUI: This episode was recoded on 29th May 2024.
RUI: On 24th May, China’s National Immigration Administration, along with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Commerce, jointly issued a statement calling on hotels across the country to accept foreign guests.
MARIANN: The statement was issued in response to online complaints from foreign travellers who reported having been refused by hotels on the grounds that the hotels did not have the necessary qualification to provide accommodation to foreign nationals or simply did not know what the required procedure was. As a next step, the intention is to guide the hotel industry to improve their service offerings to foreign nationals. To this end, the Ministry of Commerce has instructed the China Hotel Association to issue a relevant proposal. Concrete areas highlighted in the statement where improvements should be made were to offer English-language and accommodation registration services.
(MUSIC)
RUI: China’s actual use of foreign direct investment fell almost 28 per cent year-on-year in the first four months of 2024, despite a steep rise in the number of new foreign-invested enterprises established in the country during the same period.
MARIANN: According to data released by China’s Ministry of Commerce on 24th May, utilised FDI amounted to 360 billion yuan in the January-April period, nearly 28 per cent lower than in the same period last year. This was the sharpest decrease in China’s actual use of FDI recorded since January 2009. The ministry attributed the steep drop to the record-high base from 2023. However, the utilisation of FDI in the first four months of 2024 stood at the lowest level of the past four years.
Almost one third of the total utilised FDI was injected into the manufacturing sector, with over 45 billion yuan invested into high-tech manufacturing.
At the same time, almost 17 thousand new, foreign-invested firms were established in China, over 19 per cent more than during the same period last year.
(MUSIC)
RUI: Profits at larger industrial firms in China grew 4.3 per cent year-on-year in the first four-months of 2024, with the rate of increase unchanged from the first three months.
MARIANN: Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on 27th May showed that industrial companies above the designated size realised over 2 thousand billion yuan worth of profits. A breakdown by company ownership type showed that equity-owned firms reported the highest level of total profits, exceeding 1,550 billion yuan. Foreign-invested companies ranked last with over 528 billion yuan in profits, despite the fact that their profits increased at the fastest pace among all company types, rising almost 17 per cent compared to the same period last year.
(MUSIC)
RUI: On 24th May, the European Council formally adopted the corporate sustainability due diligence directive—or CSDDD—which will require large companies to establish due diligence processes in order to ensure their entire operations—both up and downstream—are in line with EU human rights and environmental standards.
MARIANN: The directive will be introduced gradually over a three-year period and will eventually apply to EU-based companies with more than 1,000 employees and a worldwide annual net turnover over EUR 450 million. Member states will be required to implement the relevant regulations and administrative processes within two years from the date of the directive taking effect.
The European Chamber’s Business Confidence Survey 2024 found that more than 40 per cent of respondents expect that their company’s China operations will be impacted by the upcoming directive.
(MUSIC)
RUI: According to the World Bank, human capital has contributed over 36 per cent to China’s economic growth, and the number is still on a rise. However, there are several demographic trends impacting human capital in China, including a continuous drop in the country’s birth rate, an ageing population and a high level of youth unemployment.
MARIANN: Tou counter these trends, China is shifting from a demographic dividend to a talent dividend. However, the largest share of its labour force still has a rural hukou and over two thirds of them—more than 400 million individuals—have not received high school education.
RUI: Join our breakfast roundtable on 6th June in Beijing, when Dr Scott Rozelle, a researcher affiliated to Stanford University, will share his perspective on the latest human capital trends in China, and delve into questions such as: “How should China cultivate a diversified and multilevel human resource that meet the needs of economic and social development?” and “How should companies better leverage the window of opportunity to foster talent dividend to drive business growth?”
(MUSIC)
MARIANN: Thanks for listening, and don’t forget to tune in again next week.
RUI: In the meantime, please find useful links in the episode notes.