China Voices: The AmCham Shanghai Podcast

Eric delves into the greatest market opportunities for foreign firms in not only Shanghai but the greater Yangtze River Delta region, and what firms need to know about expanding outside the city. Finally, Eric offers his thoughts on how the U.S. and China can foster collaborative exchanges moving forward. 

A note from China Voices host Kate Magill: This is my final episode as host of China Voices. Thanks to everyone who came on the show to share their expertise, and everyone who has listened to the show and helped it grow!

This week we talked with former US Consul General in Shanghai Sean Stein. After stepping down from his post last year, Sean now serves as a senior advisor at international law firm Covington & Burling.

Sean joined us on the show to discuss some of the biggest risks US businesses in China face right now and what strategies and scenario planning executive teams can use to mitigate that risk, including on issues such as the threat of consumer boycotts and disruptive export controls. Sean also offers his perspective on how companies, as well as the US and Chinese governments, can build and maintain public trust in both countries, and why the way firms characterize their China operations to US audiences matters. 

Finally, Sean talks about why cooperation between the US and China should be aggressively pursued when possible, and why he thinks people need to pay more attention to what Chinese officials are reading if they want to know where policy is headed.

This week, we discussed Chinese clothing brand NEIWAI's recent expansion from China to the US with brand director Hailey Xue. NEIWAI made waves in 2020 for its viral "No Body is Nobody" campaign, and has recently launched an online presence in the US, taking on established competitors like Victoria's Secret. Hailey discusses how she led her team to create the popular 2020 marketing campaign, and what lessons NEIWAI has learned through its expansion from the East to the West. 

We also discuss the evolution of China's clothing retail market and how it compares to the US. Finally, Hailey talks about how NEIWAI is carving a niche for itself in the US and what advice she has for other brands looking to make the leap from the China market to the US. 

On this episode we sat down with AmCham Shanghai President Ker Gibbs during his final weeks in China. Ker is ending his time in China after 19 years here, including the past three as AmCham Shanghai president. Ker shares his thoughts on the state of US business in China and how companies can navigate current challenges, including changing data regulations and tense bilateral relations. He also offers his views on why an open market is important for China, and what he hopes the next year brings for US businesses here. 

This episode we talked with Hang Seng Bank (China)'s Chief Economist, Dan Wang, about China's economic outlook at the end of 2021. Dan begins by offering her assessment of China's 2021 economic performance, particularly in consumption, as well as her China GDP forecast for 2022. 

Dan then digs into China's shift from a development-driven economy to a consumption-backed one, and how long she thinks China can keep up its strong export demand. Finally, we discuss the longer-term outlook for China's economic growth, and what economic policy developments Dan expects to see in the coming year. 

This episode we're discussing the state of US-China trade relations with David Dollar. David is a senior fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution and host of the Brookings trade podcast, Dollar&Sense. 

We discuss David's reaction to USTR Katherine Tai's recent strategy outline of the US trade strategy towards China. David offers his thoughts on Tai's stance on a structured "recoupling" between the US and China, and why he believes the US should rethink its tariffs on China. We also discuss the use of reciprocity between the US and China on trade and market access issues, and on what to expect for 2022 trade talks.  

This episode, we spoke with Popeyes China CEO Raphael Coelho about the restaurant chain's expansion into China. Popeyes launched its first China location in May 2020 in Shanghai, the first of what the company hopes will be 1,500 stores in the next decade. We chat about how Popeyes has planned where to build restaurants and what its social media strategy has been to build hype around new location openings. 

Raphael also offers his thoughts on the outlook for China's fast-food restaurant, and if there are any domestic brands that he says are serious competitors in the market. Finally, he offers a hint at what's next for Popeyes China and what fans can look forward to in the near future. 

This episode we're talking with fintech expert Michael Sung about China's upcoming national launch of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). Michael is the founding co-director of the Fudan Fanhai Fintech Research Center at Fudan University and the chairman of the cross-border technology-transfer company CarbonBlue Innovations. 

Michael and I discuss China's motivation to launch one of the world's first CBDCs, and how it will work alongside WeChat Pay and Alipay. We also chat about what the transition to digital currency will be like for businesses, and finally, how China's use of digital currency could be the beginning of a global trend in favor of the "digitization of value."

This episode we discussed China's efforts to grow its green financing sector with Dafei Huang, executive director and carbon assets specialist at the China International Capital Corporation. Dafei is an expert in green financing and renewable energy project development, and offered her insights into how China is incentivizing both the public and private sector to invest in green projects. 

We also discussed the launch of China's carbon emissions market this past July, and how the market will help China to reach its ambitious carbon neutrality goals. Finally, Dafei talks about what she believes are the next steps China should take to build a cross-industry green economy. 

This episode, we talked with Jim McGregor, long-time China expert and Chairman, Greater China of APCO Worldwide, about the state of US-China commercial ties. Jim offers his take on why companies need to be "clear-eyed" about their longevity in the China market and China's ambitions to strengthen its own technological abilities. We also dig into what Jim says is motivating the regulatory crackdowns in China right now, and how investors should respond. He discusses how US-China discourse has changed in recent years and the ongoing "global competition of systems" between the two countries. 

Finally, we talk about the "people-to-people" decoupling spurred by the pandemic, and why it's a loss for the US-China relationship.