Event Details

China Now 2021 - The British Chamber of Commerce in China's annual signature conference on China's Lianghui/Two Sessions.


China's annual political meetings, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress (CPPCC) and the National People's Congress (NPC) are set to be held on 4th and 5th March respectively, shaping the political and economic agenda for the year ahead. This year's conference also marks the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, which sheds light on a longer term plan on economic development for China going forward.


Despite the challenges from Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 saw many economic successes for China. China was the only country with a positive GDP growth of 2%; China was the largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment, with the economy bringing in USD163 billion in inflows (fastest growth rate in five years). Not to mention earlier in the year that China signed a historic Phase I trade deal with the US, and reached a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) with the EU.


What is the outlook of 2021 for China domestically and internationally? How does it affect foreign businesses in China? What should businesses look out for? Join CHINA NOW 2021 for a breakdown of the 2021 Lianghui.


Speakers

  • Emily Feng (Beijing correspondent at National Public Radio)

    Emily Feng

    Beijing correspondent at National Public Radio

    Feng joined NPR in February 2019. She roves around China, through its big cities and small villages, reporting on social trends as well as economic and political news coming out of Beijing. Feng contributes to NPR's newsmagazines, newscasts, podcasts, and digital platforms.

    From 2017 through 2019, Feng served as a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times. Based in Beijing, she covered a broad range of topics, including human rights, technology, and the environment. While in this position, Feng made four trips to Xinjiang under difficult reporting circumstances. During these trips, Feng reported extensively on China's detention and surveillance campaign in the western region of Xinjiang, was the first foreign reporter to uncover that China was separating Uighur children from their parents and sending them to state-run orphanages, and uncovered that China was introducing forced labor in Xinjiang's detention camps.

    Feng's reporting has also let her nerd out over semiconductors and drones, trek out to coal towns and steel mills, travel to environmental wastelands, and write about girl bands and art.

    Prior to her work with the Financial Times, Feng freelanced in Beijing, covering arts, culture, and business for such outlets as The New York Times, Foreign Policy, and The Economist.

    For her coverage of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Feng was shortlisted for the Amnesty Media Awards in February 2019 and won a Human Rights Press merit award for breaking news coverage that May. Feng also earned two spots on the October 2018 British Journalism Awards shortlists: Best Foreign Coverage for her work covering Xinjiang, and Young Journalist of the Year for overall reporting excellence.

    Feng graduated cum laude from Duke University with a dual B.A. degree from Duke's Sanford School in Asian and Middle Eastern studies and in public policy.

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  • Mattie Bekink (China Director of Economist Corporate Network)

    Mattie Bekink

    China Director of Economist Corporate Network

    Mattie Bekink is responsible for the Economist Corporate Network’s China strategy, including programme development and client servicing across China. She also provides support to all Economist Corporate Network programmes worldwide with a China component.

    Ms Bekink has extensive experience in the public, private and policy sectors. Prior to joining The Economist Group, she was the Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission in the Netherlands. She also ran an eponymous consulting business, advising senior executives from businesses, universities and non-profit organisations on China policy, strategy, public affairs, and corporate social responsibility. Ms Bekink practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, has worked with the US-Asia Law Initiative at NYU Law School and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative China Program, and served in the legal department at General Motors China.

    Ms Bekink has a BA in International Relations from Stanford University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

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  • Tom MacKenzie (China correspondent at Bloomberg)

    Tom MacKenzie

    China correspondent at Bloomberg

    Based in Beijing, Tom Mackenzie anchors “Bloomberg Markets: China Open”, airing at 9am HK weekdays. He is also Bloomberg TV’s China correspondent, covering the country’s economic transformation and fast-evolving business landscape. He has interviewed many of the world’s most influential business leaders including the CEOs of Disney, Ford Motor Co., Morgan Stanley, Rio Tinto, Baidu and Huawei. He has also interviewed policymakers from former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan to US Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Russian Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin.
    Mackenzie has covered stories ranging from the US-China trade war and the North Korean nuclear crisis to China’s capital market reforms.
    Before Beijing, he was a TV reporter in Bloomberg’s London bureau covering major political and economic events. He reported extensively on a variety of topics including Greece’s debt issues, Europe’s refugee crisis, the terror attacks in Paris, northern Iraq’s oil crisis as well as national elections in Spain, Turkey and the UK.
    Prior to joining Bloomberg, Mackenzie was a producer and reporter at CNBC focusing on politics and technology in the EMEA region. Earlier in his career, he lived in Beijing working across TV and print mediums including the Economist Intelligence Unit, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian and the South China Morning Post.

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  • Yan Mei (Brunswick Group)

    Yan Mei

    Brunswick Group

    After a distinguished career serving major international media companies for more than twenty years, Mei Yan (last name Mei, first name Yan) joined Brunswick Group in 2013. As Senior Partner and Chair of China, she oversees Brunswick’s China business and acts as a counselor to senior executives.
    Yan advises major global corporations with a particular focus on public affairs, government engagement, mergers & acquisitions, and corporate reputation management as well as crisis and issues management. She provides counsel to senior management of foreign companies as they position their organizations in China and leaders of Chinese companies going global.
    Yan joined Brunswick from Viacom International Media Networks, where she was Managing Director of Greater China and Chief Representative of Viacom Asia. Previously, Yan held a series of China-based senior positions at Turner International Asia Pacific, News Corp., and its STAR Group.
    Yan worked as a journalist for ITN and CNN for more than a decade, winning three Emmy Awards in that time.
    In addition to her role at Brunswick, she serves as a senior advisor at global investment firm KKR, sits on the board of French global automotive supplier Faurecia and is an international council member of the British Council’s Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre.
    Today, she is a regular speaker at preeminent events, including the Hamburg Summit and POWER Shanghai. She is a Vice-Chair of the board of The Golden Bridges Foundation and the China Women’s Club. Born in Beijing, Yan holds two Master’s degrees in International Relations and Political Science from Columbia University, New York, and a Master in Advanced Russian Area Studies from Hunter College at the City University of New York. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree

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