[Hybrid event] UK Election 2024: A new chapter in UK-China relations?

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Save the dateJuly 25, 202416:30 - 18:00 GMT+8 Add to Calendar

Venue Location

CBBC Beijing Office

Room 901-902, 9th Floor, Building C, Guanghualu SOHO II, Building No.9, Guanghualu Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100020
Beijing

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Organizer

Organizer: British Chamber of Commerce in China, China Britain Business Council

Contact Person: Rachel Tsang

Email: rachel.tsang@britishchamber.cn

Event Details

The British Chamber in collaboration with the China-Britain Business Council cordially invite you to join our upcoming briefing on the UK election outcome, the UK's newly formed Labour Government, and its implications for UK-China relations.

Joining our panel of experts are leading figures across from both the British and Chinese Government relations and policy watcher: Chris Torrens, Managing Director, Greater China, APCO; Richard Burn, Senior Advisor, APCO and former HM Trade Commissioner to Greater China; Kong Yuan, Researcher, Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Zhang Biao, Associate Professor in International Politics and Head of the Department, China University of Political Science and Law.

Thursday 25 July, 16:30-18:00 China time. 9:30-11:00 UK time.

Speakers

Richard Burn

Senior Counselor, APCO and former HM Trade Commissioner to Greater China

Richard Burn

Senior Counselor, APCO and former HM Trade Commissioner to Greater China

Richard Burn has spent his career moving between the public and private sectors but always at the intersection of government and business. He has a lifelong interest in China, most recently spending three years as a British diplomat in Beijing. He also has expertise in sustainable technologies, critical minerals and the energy transition. He currently serves as a senior counselor based in APCO’s London office.
Prior to joining APCO, Richard was the UK’s Trade Commissioner for Europe, covering 33 countries in the EU, EFTA, the Western Balkans and Israel. Appointed to the role in May 2020, he led his Europe-based team at the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) through the Brexit transition and first three months outside the EU. Before that, he was appointed as the first British Trade Commissioner to China and Hong Kong, following the creation of DIT by Prime Minister Theresa May after the EU Referendum result in 2016. Based in the British Embassy in Beijing, Richard led the DIT team in China across the Embassy and four Consulates-General, with responsibility for supporting UK exports, encouraging inward investment from China and tackling market access issues on behalf of UK business.
Richard has also worked as group government affairs director for Johnson Matthey plc, the global sustainable technologies company, whose innovative products and processes help the world to achieve net zero. From 2014-2016, he was global public policy director for the leading beverage alcohol company, Diageo plc, after nine years as corporate affairs director for Diageo Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. In that role, he built a regional corporate affairs network, launched a female empowerment program and negotiated the acquisition of a Chinese white spirits business in China. Before that, he was the managing director of APCO’s Asia region, having co-founded the China investment and public affairs consultancy, Batey Burn, which was acquired by APCO in 1999. During his tenure, he tripled the size of the business, leaving in 2005 to join Diageo. He started his career as a civil servant in the then-British Hong Kong Government and became private secretary to former UK Prime Minister Edward Heath, travelling widely with him to China, the United States and Europe.
Richard holds a first-class bachelor’s degree in classics (Literae Humaniores) from Oxford University.

Chris Torrens

Managing Director Greater China of APCO Worldwide

Chris Torrens

Managing Director Greater China of APCO Worldwide

Chris Torrens is a recognized expert on China’s geopolitical and compliance issues. As the Beijing-based managing director of APCO’s Greater China operations, Chris brings unique insights to support both multinational companies operating in China and Chinese companies going global, with a particular focus on political and regulatory risks.

Before joining APCO, Chris worked at Control Risks for 22 years, serving as partner in the Greater China and North Asia region. Before this role, Chris was based in London as the partner responsible for the geopolitical risk practice for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Chris previously worked as a Shanghai-based associate director in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ advisory practice and as the Hong Kong-based head of research at Batey Burn, a UK government relations and public affairs consultancy acquired by APCO in 1999.

Chris is a regular media commentator and has been interviewed by the BBC, CNN, CNBC, CGTN and Bloomberg. His articles have appeared in the Economist, Financial Times and specialist publications and his book, Doing Business in China, was published by The Economist Group in 2010.

Chris has lived in Greater China for more than 20 years. He holds an MBA from the China-Europe International Business School, a BA Honours degree in Modern Chinese Studies from Leeds University and speaks Mandarin.

Chris has served as vice-chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China since 2022.

Kong Yuan

Biao Zhang

Associate Professor in International Politics and Head of the Department, China University of Political Science and Law.

Biao Zhang

Associate Professor in International Politics and Head of the Department, China University of Political Science and Law.

Researcher of the Institute of European Studies (IES), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He works on UK foreign policy and UK China bilateral relations and is leading the UK studies research unit of IES

He is interested in British foreign policy and China-UK relations. He has published in Asia Europe Journal, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Chinese Political Science Review, Comparative European Politics, Journal of Chinese Political Science, and Third World Quarterly. He writes book reviews for International Affairs. He is an associate editor of Asia Europe Journal, a flagship journal for studying Europe’s relationship with Asia. He also appears frequently as a commentator on CGTN.

Sponsors and Partners

Tickets

Member ticket – in person attendance

In-person attendance, first-come, first-served.

Member Price Complimentary

Member ticket – online ticket

Online viewing of the briefing. Members will receive a link to view the briefing 24 hours in advance.

Member Price Complimentary

Non-member ticket (online only)

Online only. Non-members will receive a link to join online.

RMB 100

Richard Burn

Senior Counselor, APCO and former HM Trade Commissioner to Greater China

Chris Torrens

Managing Director Greater China of APCO Worldwide

Kong Yuan

Biao Zhang

Associate Professor in International Politics and Head of the Department, China University of Political Science and Law.

Organisers

Member ticket – in person attendance

Member ticket – online ticket

Non-member ticket (online only)