Yes, we could say so! On 18 February we had special guest speaker who attracted a lot of our members and guests. As the Sergeant-at-Arms I was a bit too busy so I could not fully concentrate on his presentation…

Speaker’s Committee Chair Rtn Joerg introduced the speaker Mr. Alfred Schipke.
Alfred Schipke is the IMF Senior Resident Representative for China. Previously, he was a division chief in the Asia and Pacific Department, where he coordinated the work on fast growing low income countries in South-East Asia (Frontier Economies) and led missions to Vietnam. He was a division chief in the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department in charge of the Latin Caribbean and Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) divisions. Among others, he negotiated a high access Stand-by Arrangement, which included a debt restructuring and a debt-equity swap for one of the countries in the ECCU, as well as an $800 million precautionary Stand-By Arrangement for El Salvador. Also, he was the Regional Resident Representative for Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic and worked in the IMF European Department. He teaches international trade and finance at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government and has authored and edited a number of books and articles, including a recently published handbook on the ECCU. His research has focused on economic integration and the linkages between macroeconomics and finance.

In his presentation, filled with charts and data, he gave his view on what the future could hold for China.
In the short-term, China’s economic growth remains relatively strong. The consumption is still strong and the supply side is holding up, although latest PMI somewhat weaker. Trade recovering as global demand picks up, but widening trade surplus adds to intervention pressures. Impact of tapering limited is a short-term risk.
In the medium-term, China is facing a great deal of challenges. Investment supports growth via off budget fiscal spending. Several vulnerable aspects occurred, such as local government debt, real estate as growth engine, large stock of social financing (increase in shadow banking can pose risks), net domestic credit is relatively high. Mr. Schipke also briefly analyzed different dimensions of RMB.
Rtn Christian B. thanked Mr. Schipke for the great presentation.

On Monday 2 December 8 pm, our usual Rotaract meeting at The Local in Sanlitun.
This time we had even more Rotaractors and guests, to listen to our speaker: Graham Norris, who is also Director of Communications at AmCham China. He discussed “China Outbound: How Rising Chinese Overseas Investment is Reshaping Global Business.”

I am pretty familiar with the topic – it is also a part of my book “Toxic Capitalism” where I focus on Chinese M&A abroad in their quest for energy, raw material and other resources (including food). Graham showed several well-known examples of Chinese going abroad with pockets full of money, with ideas as far-fetched as building a golf course in Iceland and digging a new Panama Canal – in another country.
Read more on Graham’s blog: http://www.chinareloaded.com/

As for the canal mega project see here what The South China Morning Post, on October 29, reported (edited):

A Nicaraguan delegation traveled to mainland China and Hong Kong last week to discuss what could be the world’s largest waterway project, the South China Morning Post has learned.
The 21 politicians, academics and leading businessmen were hosted by HKND, the Hong Kong-based developer established only last year, which has been tasked by the Nicaraguan government to build a $40-billion canal through the Central American country.
Laureno Facundo Ortega Murillo, the son of Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega, led the group.
In June of this year, President Ortega signed a deal for the ambitious canal project with Wang Jing, CEO of Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. Ltd. (HKND), a mysterious new Chinese company that claims to be privately owned and independent of the Chinese government. But, as with virtually all Chinese companies, HKND remains opaque and refuses to reveal financial data, governing structure, and stock holdings that are routinely publicly available from companies in market economies. Wang Jing himself is similarly an enigma wrapped in a mystery. One of China’s new billionaires, Wang, reported to be 41 years old, amassed his wealth as CEO of Xinwei Telecom Enterprise Group, which manufactures wireless devices, telecom terminals, and core network devices.
“Wang has business interests in infrastructure, mining, aviation and telecommunications, according to HKND’s website,” Bloomberg News reported earlier this year. “He controls or serves as board chairman of more than 20 companies in 35 countries around the world, the website shows.” However, the Bloomberg article noted, “Wang pledged transparency for the project but gave very few details about his own background. He refused to answer a reporter’s question about where he attended school.”
“I am 100 per cent certain the construction will begin in December 2014 and we will finish in five years in 2019,” Wang was quoted as saying in a July 30 report in London’s Telegraph. However, within a few days of that rosy prediction, the project was engulfed in controversy and uncertainty, as opposition coalesced in Nicaragua over concerns that the project was being rushed through without proper feasibility and environmental studies being completed.

The above gives a good picture of the often murky deals being announced by Chinese going abroad. Are they for real? Where does the money come from? Do they actually have the money? Are they a front for some dark entity of the Chinese Government?
I won’t try to answer those questions…

On 9 and 10 November the Rotary Club of Beijing held its annual Bazaar, in the ballroom of the Kempinski Hotel, see earlier post wit the first set of pictures, done by myself.
I received a CD from Ryan, our Rotaract Bazaar coordinator, with a mountain of great pictures taken by several other volunteers. See here a selection, all with reduced size for webview.

The pictures show a great Bazaar, fully enjoyed by all generations!
See you next year!

On 9 and 10 November the Rotary Club of Beijing held its annual Bazaar, in the ballroom of the Kempinski Hotel.

I had my own table to sell my book, sharing it with MCF (Migrant Children Foundation). I also acted a bit as the photographer. But I was mainly involved in helping our Rotaract volunteers with the photo booth. This time I came up with the idea to have Mickey and Mini running around to take pictures with kids (and adults with a young heart). I sponsored the costumes and some energetic volunteers made a real blast with the crowds. As usual the Bazaar was visited by many families with kids.

This year, all tables were sold and the quality of the vendors was great as I received a lot of positive feedback from both vendors and visitors. We also had several performances, a lucky draw and a silent auction.

But better than many words, see the pictures. We were all pretty tired but happy.
Thanks for all those who came to visit – and some of my friends spent lots of money – and too bad for those who missed it.

On Tuesday 29 October, right after our weekly Rotary lunch at the Kempinski, our Rotaractor Emmanuel organized an interesting and unique talk.
A member of European parliament, Mr. Sajjad H Karim (MEP Conservatives in The European Parliament & LLB Hons North West England), came to meet members of Rotaract and Rotary to discuss his experiences and views on British-Chinese relations and his work in the European parliament.

Mr. Karim worked as a lawyer before being elected to represent the North-West of England in the European Parliament in 2004.  He is committed to developing the EU’s relationship with developing countries in Asia such as India and China and has been closely involved with the EU-India Free Trade Agreement which seeks to advance trade between the European Union and India.
Mr. Karim was the first British Muslim to be elected to the European Parliament and in 2005 established the European Parliament Friends of Pakistan Group, as well as being a member of Friends of India and Friends of Bangladesh Groups. Through his interaction with these groups, Mr. Karim demonstrates a global outlook for the European Union and seeks to build relationships with developing countries across the world.
Mr. Karim’s world travels also brought him to extreme danger when he was caught in the devastating 2008 Mumbai attacks by Pakistani extremists.  He also made headline news in the British press in 2012 after helping to return six-year old Atiya Wilkinson to her mother, after she had been abducted to Pakistan by her father three years earlier’.
Mr. Karim is part of a larger delegation of the EU Parliament, visiting Beijing. I was myself in a meeting earlier the same day to address part of the delegation on issues related to Public Procurement and recent political and economic developments in China.