China
China’s Charity Challenge: ‘People Want to Help, They Just Don’t Know How’
Chitose Suzuki/Associated Press Smile Ambassador for Operation Smile Jackie Chan, left, watches Dr. Bill Magee, co-founder of Operation Smile, right, perform lip surgery on a 6 month-old baby during his visit to Vietnam-Cuba Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009. Haraz N. Ghanbari/Associated Press Bill Magee walks with actress Jessica Simpson as the they leave the Capitol, Thursday, March 16, 2006 following an Operation Smile news conference, March 16, 2006. With China accounting for 64 of the 937 wealthiest people on the latest Forbes global rich list, and the country battling an ever-widening wealth gap, the issue of charity has begun to loom large over the world’s second-largest economy. Do those who’ve profited from the country’s rise feel a responsibility to help those left behind? Is the government, which has retreated from many social services, doing enough to encourage others to step in and help? One organization with extensive experience navigating China’s uncertain nonprofit landscape is cleft-lip and cleft-palate medical charity Operation Smile. Founded in 1982, the organization first came to China in 1991. In that time, it has provided free surgeries to more than 20,000 Chinese children and has plans to run 26 additional medical missions, each serving between 100 and 300 children around the country this year. Operation Smile co-founders Dr. Bill Magee and his wife Kathy recently arrived in Beijing to launch a youth conference at a local university, part of the organization’s continuing celebration of its 20 th anniversary in China. Dr. Magee spoke with The Wall Street Journal about the state of charity in China and the challenges foreign nonprofits still face in the country. Edited excerpts: Operation Smile has been in China for two decades now. What’s changed in terms of operating a charity in China over that time ? The first time I came into Shanghai in 1991, I took about a five-hour car ride into Hangzhou, and at the West Lake at that time there was only one hotel. You take a look at Hangzhou today and it’s a massive, major city—and it’s modern. Shanghai now has one of the largest and possibly best surgery hospitals in the world. So the medical infrastructure is phenomenal, and yet the reality is, just like in Brazil and a number of other significant countries like India, you have a massive area that’s still impoverished. The challenge is how do you deliver care side-by-side with the people in the country? So it’s been exciting to get on board, not only the medical community, but the business community. Marriott, for instance, has adopted us as the charity for Beijing for next year, which has been very helpful. How much of your China funding comes from multinationals in China such as Marriott and how much from Chinese businesses themselves? It mostly starts with the multinationals, to be honest with you. And that’s understandable because the multinationals are deeply embedded in the need for corporate responsibility. I think those same needs will develop within Chinese companies. They’re just not as far along with it as the multinationals are right now. What about individual donations? There’s been a lot of discussion, ever since the Bill Gates and Warren Buffet charity tour came to China last year, around the culture and logistics of giving in China as Chinese people get wealthier. What’s been your experience with that? It’s interesting. We’re still struggling with this, like everybody else, because the status of nonprofits in China makes it difficult to get the appropriate licenses so people can donate to you. But if you take Vietnam, where we’ve been for 22 years, you can really see the maturation of that process. I think it’s just a matter of time. If you look at where nonprofits were in the U.S. 10, 20 years ago—the progress since then has been phenomenal. My best guess is that as this country continues to mature and progress, with as successful as they’re becoming, they’re going to grow in the same way. People with affluence will have to share some of it with people who don’t have it. The people here want to help. They just don’t know how to right now. The laws have to change a little, and the recognition of it has to change—the celebration of people who give has to change. As a charity in China, you’re required to work with the Ministry of Civil Affairs. How does that affect what you do vs. in other places? We can’t promote ourselves to raise money, but we have do a charity hospital in Hangzhou, which is I think the first completely free charity hospital in China. Because that was licensed by the Chinese, we’re allowed to receive money there. China can be tough. We can’t bring in consumables (like sutures and gauze), for instance. We have to purchase them here. Normally we get things donated in the U.S. and bring them in, but we’re not allowed to do that. It costs us about $20,000 to do that. How optimistic are you that the rules will loosen up to allow you to be more active here ? Over the past 20 years, there’s definitely been some loosening. It’s hard to predict the pace of that. And I think if were to ask government officials ‘What’s the pace? What’s the plan?’ I doubt you’d ever get a clear answer. Things happen, and you just have to stay on top of it. It’s not one of those things where you go in and demand that change occur over night. I think what you have to do is show, really respectfully, that you can be trusted and that you’re there, not for an ulterior motive, but for just the right reasons. Because we’re not a religious or political organization, it’s a little bit easier to show that to people in a very dramatic way. – Josh Chin. Follow him on Twitter @joshchin
- Chitose Suzuki/Associated Press
- Smile Ambassador for Operation Smile Jackie Chan, left, watches Dr. Bill Magee, co-founder of Operation Smile, right, perform lip surgery on a 6 month-old baby during his visit to Vietnam-Cuba Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009.
- Haraz N. Ghanbari/Associated Press
- Bill Magee walks with actress Jessica Simpson as the they leave the Capitol, Thursday, March 16, 2006 following an Operation Smile news conference, March 16, 2006.
With China accounting for 64 of the 937 wealthiest people on the latest Forbes global rich list, and the country battling an ever-widening wealth gap, the issue of charity has begun to loom large over the world’s second-largest economy. Do those who’ve profited from the country’s rise feel a responsibility to help those left behind? Is the government, which has retreated from many social services, doing enough to encourage others to step in and help?
One organization with extensive experience navigating China’s uncertain nonprofit landscape is cleft-lip and cleft-palate medical charity Operation Smile. Founded in 1982, the organization first came to China in 1991. In that time, it has provided free surgeries to more than 20,000 Chinese children and has plans to run 26 additional medical missions, each serving between 100 and 300 children around the country this year.
Operation Smile co-founders Dr. Bill Magee and his wife Kathy recently arrived in Beijing to launch a youth conference at a local university, part of the organization’s continuing celebration of its 20th anniversary in China. Dr. Magee spoke with The Wall Street Journal about the state of charity in China and the challenges foreign nonprofits still face in the country. Edited excerpts:
Operation Smile has been in China for two decades now. What’s changed in terms of operating a charity in China over that time?
The first time I came into Shanghai in 1991, I took about a five-hour car ride into Hangzhou, and at the West Lake at that time there was only one hotel. You take a look at Hangzhou today and it’s a massive, major city—and it’s modern. Shanghai now has one of the largest and possibly best surgery hospitals in the world. So the medical infrastructure is phenomenal, and yet the reality is, just like in Brazil and a number of other significant countries like India, you have a massive area that’s still impoverished.
The challenge is how do you deliver care side-by-side with the people in the country? So it’s been exciting to get on board, not only the medical community, but the business community. Marriott, for instance, has adopted us as the charity for Beijing for next year, which has been very helpful.
How much of your China funding comes from multinationals in China such as Marriott and how much from Chinese businesses themselves?
It mostly starts with the multinationals, to be honest with you. And that’s understandable because the multinationals are deeply embedded in the need for corporate responsibility. I think those same needs will develop within Chinese companies. They’re just not as far along with it as the multinationals are right now.
What about individual donations? There’s been a lot of discussion, ever since the Bill Gates and Warren Buffet charity tour came to China last year, around the culture and logistics of giving in China as Chinese people get wealthier. What’s been your experience with that?
It’s interesting. We’re still struggling with this, like everybody else, because the status of nonprofits in China makes it difficult to get the appropriate licenses so people can donate to you. But if you take Vietnam, where we’ve been for 22 years, you can really see the maturation of that process. I think it’s just a matter of time. If you look at where nonprofits were in the U.S. 10, 20 years ago—the progress since then has been phenomenal.
My best guess is that as this country continues to mature and progress, with as successful as they’re becoming, they’re going to grow in the same way. People with affluence will have to share some of it with people who don’t have it. The people here want to help. They just don’t know how to right now. The laws have to change a little, and the recognition of it has to change—the celebration of people who give has to change.
As a charity in China, you’re required to work with the Ministry of Civil Affairs. How does that affect what you do vs. in other places?
We can’t promote ourselves to raise money, but we have do a charity hospital in Hangzhou, which is I think the first completely free charity hospital in China. Because that was licensed by the Chinese, we’re allowed to receive money there.
China can be tough. We can’t bring in consumables (like sutures and gauze), for instance. We have to purchase them here. Normally we get things donated in the U.S. and bring them in, but we’re not allowed to do that. It costs us about $20,000 to do that.
How optimistic are you that the rules will loosen up to allow you to be more active here?
Over the past 20 years, there’s definitely been some loosening. It’s hard to predict the pace of that. And I think if were to ask government officials ‘What’s the pace? What’s the plan?’ I doubt you’d ever get a clear answer.
Things happen, and you just have to stay on top of it. It’s not one of those things where you go in and demand that change occur over night. I think what you have to do is show, really respectfully, that you can be trusted and that you’re there, not for an ulterior motive, but for just the right reasons. Because we’re not a religious or political organization, it’s a little bit easier to show that to people in a very dramatic way.
– Josh Chin. Follow him on Twitter @joshchin
Reforms started in the late 1970s with the phasing out of collectivized agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, the foundation of a diversified banking system, the development of stock markets, the rapid growth of the non-state sector, and the opening to foreign trade and investment.
One demographic consequence of the “one child” policy is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world.
China is also the second largest trading nation in the world and the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods.
The PRC government’s decision to permit China to be used by multinational corporations as an export platform has made the country a major competitor to other Asian export-led economies, such as South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Available energy is insufficient to run at fully installed industrial capacity, and the transport system is inadequate to move sufficient quantities of such critical items as coal.
Its mineral resources are probably among the richest in the world but are only partially developed.
A report by UBS in 2009 concluded that China has experienced total factor productivity growth of 4 per cent per year since 1990, one of the fastest improvements in world economic history.
Over the years, large subsidies were built into the price structure, and these subsidies grew substantially in the late 1970s and 1980s.
On top of this, foreign direct investment (FDI) this year was set to “surpass $100 billion”, compared to $90 billion last year, ministry officials predicted.
According to the ministry, China’s ODI grew by 1.1 percent from a year earlier to $56.53 billion, which includes investment of $47.8 billion in non-financial sectors worldwide, up 14.2 percent year-on-year.
It also aims to sell more than 15 million of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the world each year by then.
In large part as a result of economic liberalization policies, the GDP quadrupled between 1978 and 1998, and foreign investment soared during the 1990s.
Despite initial gains in farmers’ incomes in the early 1980s, taxes and fees have increasingly made farming an unprofitable occupation, and because the state owns all land farmers have at times been easily evicted when croplands are sought by developers.
In terms of cash crops, China ranks first in cotton and tobacco and is an important producer of oilseeds, silk, tea, ramie, jute, hemp, sugarcane, and sugar beets.
Sheep, cattle, and goats are the most common types of livestock.
Growing domestic demand beginning in the mid-1990s, however, has forced the nation to import increasing quantities of petroleum.
There are large deposits of uranium in the northwest, especially in Xinjiang; there are also mines in Jiangxi and Guangdong provs.
China also has extensive hydroelectric energy potential, notably in Yunnan, W Sichuan, and E Tibet, although hydroelectric power accounts for only 5% of the country’s total energy production.
In the northeast (Manchuria) are large cities and rail centers, notably Shenyang (Mukden), Harbin, and Changchun.
See the rest here:
China’s Charity Challenge: ‘People Want to Help, They Just Don’t Know How’
China
China Unveils Plan to Upgrade Industrial Equipment
China unveiled a comprehensive action plan for upgrading industrial equipment, with a focus on driving technological innovation and economic growth. The plan, released on April 9, 2024, aims to enhance competitiveness and sustainability within the manufacturing sector through extensive investment and regulatory support.
China announced an ambitious action plan for industrial equipment upgrading, which aims to drive technological innovation and economic growth through extensive investment and regulatory support.
On April 9, 2024, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and six other departments jointly released a notice introducing the Implementation Plan for Promoting Equipment Renewal in the Industrial Sector (hereafter referred to as the “action plan”).
Finalized earlier on March 23, 2024, this comprehensive action plan addresses critical issues related to technological innovation and economic development. It reflects China’s proactive stance in enhancing competitiveness and sustainability within its manufacturing sector. The initiative underscores the recognition of industrial equipment upgrading as a top policy priority.
The scope of China’s action plan to upgrade industrial equipment in manufacturing, is extensive, covering various aspects such as:
In line with China’s ambitious goals for industrial modernization and sustainable development, the action plan outlines several key objectives aimed at driving substantial advancements in the industrial sector by 2027.
These objectives encompass a wide range of areas, from increasing investment to enhancing digitalization and promoting innovation, including:
The objectives and key actions proposed in the action plan are summarized below.
This article is republished from China Briefing. Read the rest of the original article.
China Briefing is written and produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The practice assists foreign investors into China and has done since 1992 through offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. Please contact the firm for assistance in China at china@dezshira.com.
China
China deepens engagement with new Indonesian president as top diplomat visits Jakarta
China’s top diplomat met the outgoing Indonesian president and his successor in Jakarta on Thursday, as Beijing deepened its engagement with future leader Prabowo Subianto, amid a competition for regional influence with the United States.
The meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was part of a joint commitment to advance the partnership between the two countries, said Prabowo, who visited Beijing in early April after his landslide win in the February general election.
“It is a great honor for me to welcome him [Wang] today. Thank you for the kind reception I received in Beijing a few weeks ago,” Prabowo said, according to an Indonesian defense ministry statement.
Chinese President Xi Jinping had invited Prabowo to visit, and the latter accepting the invitation raised eyebrows in Indonesia because no president-elect had made a foreign visit such as this one without being sworn in. China is Indonesia’s largest trading partner.
Wang, too, mentioned Prabowo’s Beijing trip, according to the same statement.
“We really appreciate and welcome Defense Minister Prabowo’s visit to China,” he said.
“We are committed to continuing to increase bilateral cooperation with Indonesia, both in the defense sector and other fields such as economic, social and cultural.”
Wang is scheduled to go to East Nusa Tenggara province on Friday to attend the China-Indonesia High-Level Dialogue Cooperation Mechanism, a process to support more effective bilateral cooperation. His Jakarta stop was the first of a six-day tour that also includes Cambodia and Papua New Guinea.
Prabowo and Wang discussed cooperation in the defense industry and sector, with potential measures such as educational and training collaboration, as well as joint exercises, said Brig. Gen. Edwin Adrian Sumantha, spokesman at the Indonesian defense ministry.
In fact, the ministry statement said that “China is Indonesia’s close partner and has had close bilateral relations, especially in the defense sector, for a long time.”
Of course, China has also invested billions of U.S. dollars in infrastructure projects in Indonesia, including as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative – the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train, which began commercial operations in October 2023, is one such BRI project.
The two countries have drawn closer during outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s two terms, and Beijing would like that to continue as the U.S. tries to catch up with China’s gargantuan influence in Southeast Asia, analysts have said.
Indonesia, China call for ceasefire in Gaza
Both Indonesia and China shared the same position on Israel’s devastating attacks on Gaza, said Wang’s Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi.
Israel’s air and ground strikes have killed more than 33,000 Palestinians following the Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which killed around 1,100 Israelis.
“We … have the same view regarding the importance of a ceasefire in Gaza and resolving the Palestinian problem fairly through two state solutions,” Retno told reporters in a joint press conference after meeting with Wang.
“Indonesia will support full Palestinian membership in the U.N. Middle East stability will not be realized without resolving the Palestinian issue.”
For his part, Wang slammed Washington for repeatedly vetoing resolutions calling for Israel to end the attacks on the Palestinian territory it occupies.
“The conflict in Gaza has lasted for half a year and caused a rare humanitarian tragedy in the 21st century,” Wang told the media at the same press conference, according to the Associated Press.
“The United Nations Security Council responded to the call of the international community and continued to review the resolution draft on the cease-fire in Gaza, but it was repeatedly vetoed by the United States.”
The conflict in the Middle East offered a strategic opportunity for China to further expand its influence in Southeast Asia, said Muhamad Arif, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Indonesia.
“China is trying to strengthen its position as a key player in the region,” Arief told BenarNews.
China could present an alternative approach to the conflict in Gaza, he said, which may find approval in Southeast Asia’s largest country, Indonesia, and other Mulism-majority states in the region, such as Malaysia and Brunei.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.
Read the rest of this article here >>> China deepens engagement with new Indonesian president as top diplomat visits Jakarta
China
New Publication: A Guide for Foreign Investors on Navigating China’s New Company Law
The sixth revision of China’s Company Law is the most extensive amendment in history, impacting foreign invested enterprises with stricter rules on capital injection and corporate governance. Most FIEs must align with the New Company Law by July 1, 2024, with a deadline of December 31, 2024 for adjustments. Contact Dezan Shira & Associates for assistance.
The sixth revision of China’s Company Law represents the most extensive amendment in its history. From stricter capital injection rules to enhanced corporate governance, the changes introduced in the New Company Law have far-reaching implications for businesses, including foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) operating in or entering the China market.
Since January 1, 2020, the Company Law has governed both wholly foreign-owned enterprises (WFOEs) and joint ventures (JVs), following the enactment of the Foreign Investment Law (FIL). Most FIEs must align with the provisions of the New Company Law from July 1, 2024, while those established before January 1, 2020 have bit more time for adjustments due to the five-year grace period provided by the FIL. The final deadline for their alignment is December 31, 2024.
In this publication, we guide foreign investors through the implications of the New Company Law for existing and new FIEs and relevant stakeholders. We begin with an overview of the revision’s background and objectives, followed by a summary of key changes. Our in-depth analysis, from a foreign stakeholder perspective, illuminates the practical implications. Lastly, we explore tax impacts alongside the revisions, demonstrating how the New Company Law may shape future business transactions and arrangements.
If you or your company require assistance with Company Law adjustments in China, please do not hesitate to contact Dezan Shira & Associates. For more information, feel free to reach us via email at china@dezshira.com.
This article is republished from China Briefing. Read the rest of the original article.
China Briefing is written and produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The practice assists foreign investors into China and has done since 1992 through offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. Please contact the firm for assistance in China at china@dezshira.com.
- China Unveils Plan to Upgrade Industrial Equipment
- China deepens engagement with new Indonesian president as top diplomat visits Jakarta
- New Publication: A Guide for Foreign Investors on Navigating China’s New Company Law
- Lingang New Area in Shanghai Opens First Cross-Border Data Service Center to Streamline Data Export Process
- A Concise Guide to the Verification Letter of Invitation Requirement in the China Visa Process
- Uyghurs remember 1990 Baren Uprising over China’s forced abortions
