One more great “Old China Hands”

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Yes, on Friday 7 March we had our monthly Old China Hands lunch, as usual in Morel’s. With everybody pretty busy getting back to business, we had “only” 25 participants, with several people who could not make it at the last minute. We had one acting ambassador and three retired ambassadors.

I had to urge all to sit down and order – everyone seemed too much engaged in chatting with each other, a good sign.
Next lunch is Friday 4 April.
Morel’s is a great place and next to our monthly lunch my office was having a lunch meeting, and our Chinese friends just loved it…

Our Beijing Rotary president is now a WOW

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

On 8 March, International Women’s Day and the FCGroup organized a great event in the Hilton Hotel (3rd ring road) to honor “Wonderful Outstanding Women”. Our president Ruby was one of the “contestants” (if we may say that…) and did get her much deserved award in the general category. Congrats Ruby, Ms. WOW 2014!

There was a free flow of wine and champagne, as well as a flood of finger food. I concentrated on the German sparkling wine, provided by Cheers (wine wholesaler), with their super friendly staff who made sure my glass was never empty.
The music was by my friends from In Side Out, Mark Levine and the lovely Fu Han.
Talking about lovely, well as it was a WOMEN day I needed to take some pics of LOVELY ladies. Any excuse is good! (one pic is by FCGroup)
See all the details here: http://fcgroup.org/wow-awards-2014/

The IMF talks to the Beijing Rotary Club

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove
in Rotary

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.

The Beatles were in Beijing!

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Well, sort of. I finally got to meet The Beijing Beatles, a well-known group of foreigners playing Beatles songs. The evening was in The Basement, under Caribe and across from Qmex (the Mexican restaurant).

The performance on 15 February was promoted by the FCGroup and attracted a full house.
It was great. They are not only good at singing but are also good entertainers, keeping the audience thrilled. Especially me, I grew up with the Beatles (and The Rolling Stones) and I still have several of their vinyl records. I sing more The Rolling Stones in my KTV simply because the Beatles’ songs are a bit too high for me!
See here more about the group: http://thebeijingbeatles.com/

16 Feb: Internations Book Reading Club

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

On Sunday 16 February, another book discussion: “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Hosted by Lilly at iQIYI CAFÉ (South Sanlitun Road near Zhongyu Plaza)
When I was in primary school, sometimes around 1958 I was part of the play. I only remember it was all a magical tale and also mysterious for us, kids.

The discussion between “adults” from all corners of the world turned out to be pretty diverse: not all were impressed (“he could written it all down in 3 pages”). And “Many of the French writers write in an intoxicated state and French people like fables”.
Anyway the discussion was interesting, even for me who had failed to read the book again…