LONDON, July 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Advisor to
China's ambitious Belt & Road
Initiative (BRI) Professor Yang
Jiemian says China and the
UK have a lot to gain by working together on the BRI, especially if
they tie in existing projects from their two countries and other
parts of the world while leveraging the mutual benefits and
complementary strengths of both countries. "The BRI could garner
the best possible outcome only by [aligning] with each other's
plans such as the British Northern Powerhouse, Germany's Industry 4.0 strategic initiative,
[along with major road projects in places such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia, etc.]," he said today at a
CEIBS-hosted forum looking at China's outbound investments and opportunities
for Britain. "China and Britain could reap the benefits by expanding
their coordination with the programmes of other BRI participants,"
he added.
The BRI will see major projects in countries along its route and
beyond. As noted in a joint communiqué issued after the
May 15 Leaders Roundtable in
Beijing, the BRI will enhance
connectivity between Asia and
Europe and is also open to other
regions such as Africa and South
America. With government level support from many countries,
the actual implementation of projects has seen widespread
participation at the company level. According to data from
China's Ministry of Commerce,
between January and April of this year Chinese companies in 61
countries along the BRI signed 1,862 contracts. The value of newly
inked deals was US$31.85 billion, an
increase of 2.3% over last year.
During today's event, Professor Yang – who is also President
Emeritus of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies – told
the audience of business executives from both countries how
China and Britain stand to benefit from leveraging each
other's resources. "China and
Britain are two important global
players and complement each other in many ways. Britain's strength in finance, innovation,
education and culture will add irreplaceable value to the BRI and
Britain will gain enormous
benefits in return," he said. "As an integrated driving force, the
BRI would demand – as well as promote – greater cooperation in
institution-building, rule-making, advanced research and closer
networking."
His comments come at a time when post-Brexit Britain is
unwinding years of agreements with the EU, and there is some degree
of uncertainty about just how hard of a landing this will be.
Concerns, ahead of the Brexit vote, about the economic fallout of
leaving the EU are still being assessed; but so too are the
potential opportunities when trade deals are renegotiated. For now,
the BRI in post-Brexit Britain has the attention of firms such as
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Services, Inc. "[With respect to the BRI],
from 2016 to 2021 the UK plans to invest more than GBP 100 billion in infrastructure. Therefore, we
have engaged with Chinese EPC contractors, funds and developers in
teaming them up with local players, educating them on the market
and helping them to win contracts," said company Vice Chairman
Angus Knowles-Cutler.
Providing Chinese firms with the know-how needed to succeed in
the UK market is a potentially lucrative deal for Deloitte and
other firms that can offer expertise on anything from legal advice
to logistics support. China's
foreign direct investments have grown steadily since 2002 with
major M&As in Europe such as
the US$43 billion ChemChina-Syngenta
deal and China Investment Corporation's US$13 billion grab of Logicor making the
headlines. There have also been some headline grabbing
failures as well, and there will likely be more in the future.
According to CEIBS Vice President & Dean Professor Ding Yuan,
some deals will fail because some companies are going global for
the wrong reasons. They may be liquidity-driven, responding to
political signals or are simply being opportunistic by chasing
short-term gain, he said. Globalisation, he stressed, should
not be the end game but simply one of the pillars of a firm's
overall strategy. He was citing research from CEIBS Centre for the
Globalisation of Chinese Companies.
Other Chinese companies, Dean
Ding noted, would fail at executing their globalisation
plans because they are over confident and over optimistic so they
pay too much; or they simply lack the management skills required to
succeed. This year, CEIBS began offering a course for Chinese
business executives eying the global market or already operating
internationally. Events like today's London leg of CEIBS 3rd Europe
Forum 2017 also provide useful insights for business executives, as
well as bridge the gap between China and the rest of the world. "Our
aim is to provide a platform that can integrate business resources
on both sides and promote cooperation between Chinese and UK
companies," explained CEIBS President Li Mingjun. "It is our hope
that our discussions will help foster greater understanding and
collaboration between China and
the UK, between companies and between people."
The CEIBS 3rd Europe Forum 2017 series of events
continues in Paris on July 11.
About China Europe International Business School
(CEIBS)
CEIBS (www.ceibs.edu) is the leading international
business school in mainland China.
It is the only business school in Asia to have simultaneously made it to the
Financial Times' top 30 list of MBA, EMBA and Executive
Education programmes. CEIBS' world-class faculty – from both
China and abroad – are experts in
their fields. Since its launch in 1994, CEIBS has provided
management education to over 130,000 executives both at home and
abroad. CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, Zurich and Accra and a teaching centre in Shenzhen. Its more than 19,000 alumni are
spread across 80+ countries around the world.