During last month’s Washington, DC policy advocacy trip, AmCham-China members met with former Pennsylvania Governor and former Homeland Security Director, and current McCain campaign national co-chair Tom Ridge. For Ridge Global LLC’s website:

The delegation, whose participants met with Capitol Hill legislators, think tanks and trade groups, sat down with Ridge Global’s chief executive to discuss the challenges and opportunities of export controls, trade security, VISA issues and other matters facing American industry in an increasingly interdependent global economy.

“America’s security and prosperity is tied to the security and prosperity of the rest of the world,” said Secretary Ridge following the event. “To remain a leader in the competitive economy, we must advance the co-mingling of ideas, innovation, collaboration and ongoing friendship with our friends and allies.”

During the annual event, which follows the release of the White Paper, an AmCham delgation meets with top US decision makers from both parties to help improve US-China economic policy.

In late August of last year AmCham-China members met with a US International Trade Commission (ITC) delegation visiting China.  The group was in Beijing gathering information from business leaders for use in a report about China’s economic policy. AmCham members offered insights about the current business climate and shared their assessments of Chinese policies governing innovation and R&D, as well as their analysis of the current state of standards development  in various industry sectors.

The the first report generated by the ITC delegation, “China: Description of selected Government Practices and Policies Affecting Decision- Making in the Economy”  is now available as a pdf. This exhaustive document, delivered to the US House and Ways Committee, examines industrial development, rationalization and privatization in the state and non-state sectors and in domestic and foreign invested enterprises. It also provides information about banking and finance, infrastructure development, price coordination, utility rates and taxation.

Both Chinese and international press outlets have reported on the meeting AmCham-China held with Secretary Leavitt earlier this week.

He discussed the two new ‘Memorandum of agreement’ (MOA) documents signed with the PRC government as part of the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) and Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). Secretary Leavitt also presented the Action Plan for Import Safety: A roadmap for continual improvement, which was developed by the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety and was presented to President George Bush.

Read a report in English from China Daily and in Chinese from China News.

Finance Minister Xie Xuren Sunday warned of a “rising trend of trade protectionism in the US” that may do “serious harm” to Sino-US economic and trade ties. Xie made the remarks on the eve of the Third China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), which is slated to start on Wednesday in Beijing. It is an annual meeting to ease frictions and problems in trade affairs and will be attended by many high-profile officials from both sides. A delegation consisting of nine Cabinet-level officials headed by US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are meeting with a Chinese team led by Vice-Premier Wu Yi and many ministers, Xie said. US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt are among the US delegation.

Finance Minister Xie Xuren’s comments were reported by Hexun and are available in the AmCham-China Wire.

Secretary Leavitt met with AmCham-China members and held a press conference today. Notes from the meeting are available on the AmCham site.

AmCham-China is hosting a morning meeting with US Secretary of Health & Human Services Mike Leavitt on Monday, December 10. He will discuss hot-button issues in food, drug, and product import safety. In addition to explaining the new US Import Safety Action Plan, Sec. Leavitt will give a preview of the two new ‘Memorandum of Agreement’ (MOA) that will be signed with the PRC Government as part of the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) and Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT).

This event is open to the public, with preferential pricing for AmCham members. Advance registration is required. Sign up by noon on Friday, December 7 on the AmCham-China site.

Washington and Beijing on Thursday (Nov. 29) resolved a dispute over government subsidies to Chinese industry, averting a long legal battle at the WTO. The US said the agreement represented a victory for its policy of vigorously pursuing trade disputes with China through a variety of legal avenues.

An official at the Chinese mission in Geneva denied that the agreement represented a total climbdown by Beijing. The official said that some of the subsidies had already been repealed and some were due for repeal under a new income tax law for enterprises. Get more on the story and a link to a Chinese report on AmCham-China’s site.

The People’s Government of Beijing’s Chaoyang District (PGBCD)  AmCham-China marked the one-year anniversary of the “Chaoyang Model Anti-Copyright Infringement and Piracy-Free Zone” on November 20. The goal of the project is to protect legitimate markets, promote the merits of genuine products, and increase the awareness of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.  AmCham-China member companies News Corp/20th Century Fox, Microsoft, NBC-Universal, Time Warner, and Warner Bros participated in the effort.  Several public outreach and educational campaigns emphasizing the importance of respecting IPR were successfully implemented during the first year.

David Kay from Microsoft China spoke at the event marking the anniversary and said there is a many pronged strategy to fight against IPR infringements. He said the first year’s cooperation efforts focused on   education and publicity, legitimate distribution channels,  coordinated law enforcement efforts, and attention from both China and the U.S.

David Kay’s speech and AmCham-China’s press release about the event can be found on the AmCham site.

Vice Premier Wu Yi received a standing ovation before and after her keynote speech November 23 during AmCham-China’s Eighth Annual Government Appreciation Dinner at the China World Hotel. The crowd of nearly 800 AmCham members, guests and high ranking government officials from the U.S. and China, were treated to the words of the woman that Forbes Magazine recently described as one of the most powerful in the world. She noted that this year’s dinner theme of “Building Bridges” is an excellent metaphor for the relationship AmCham has with the U.S. and Chinese governments and business communities. The Vice Premier also used this occasion to deliver a message to the international community that China will remain open to foreign investment, a policy that her government has embraced in recent years.

Get more details about the event on the AmCham-China site. 

In other Wu Yi news, the Vice Premier says food safety is a shared problem and the responsibility of all countries. Speaking at the High-Level International Food Safety Forum in Beijing, Wu said she hopes that developed countries provide more help to developing countries to raise their standards, improve food production technology and strengthen supervision.

The AmCham-China Wire has more.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently released an unofficial English translation of the National Development and Reform Commission’s  (NDRC) Catalogue Guiding Foreign Investment in Industry. This copy, courtesy of the U.S. Chamber, is available on the  AmCham-China site for members only. 

Compiled by the (NDRC), the catalog provides information about areas where the Chinese government is currently encouraging foreign investment and provides insight into further areas of growth. AmCham-China members should take note of the sectors where foreign investment is welcomed or restricted because it may affect how business is done in China in the future. A pdf of the Chinese-language version of the catalog is also available. 

The NDRC is a macroeconomic management agency under the State Council of the PRC, which studies and formulates policies for economic and social development, maintains a balance of economic aggregates, and guides the overall economic system restructuring.

Deputy USTR Ambassador Karan Bhatia (third right) with AmCham
-China Chairman James Zimmerman (second right) and (from left)
former chairmen John Holden, Chris Murck, Tim Stratford (current
Assistant USTR for China Affairs) and Jim Gradoville.

Over 50 members attended a luncheon with Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Karan Bhatia and Acting Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade Chris Padilla on October 10 at the Grand Hyatt.

Ambassador Bhatia and Undersecretary Padilla offered remarks on the state of U.S.-China trade relations in the run-up to December’s Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) and Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) meetings, while reviewing their opinions and observations of recent negotiations and discussions this week with the PRC government.

The event provided an opportunity for participants to ask the delegates questions regarding bilateral consultations and U.S.-China trade patterns. Topics discussed included food and consumer product safety, emerging industrial policies in China, and increasing protectionist sentiments in both countries. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China Affairs and former AmCham Chairman Tim Stratford was also in attendance.

The luncheon was hosted by AmCham-China and the U.S.-China Business Council.