While the expectations for next week’s meeting between the presidents Biden and Xi are not high, there are four points to watch, writes China analyst Ian Johnson at the website of the Council on Foreign Relations. Those are Taiwan, fentanyl, the Israel-Hamas war, and Climate actions.Read More →

China and South Korea might be starting to resume their economies, the rest of the world is getting further into lock-down mode. After Italy, the rest of Europe and the United States are only at the beginning of the corona virus pandemic. And for sure nobody in those countries is in de mood to prepare for a life after the current crisis.

At the China Speakers Bureau, we do start to look ahead, also as more events are cancelled and international flights still seem in a unstoppable free fall. But one thing is sure: even when timing is unclear, this crisis will be disappearing in the months to come, even when experts already predict a second wave of patients after the summer. In our line of business the average lead time between inquiries for speaker’ assignments and execution is on average three months, and we do not want to start for resumption of our business until the pandemic has officially stopped.Read More →

Startups should not expect to find the Promised Land in China, told VC-veteran William Bao Bean an investment conference on China in Tel Aviv last month. 95 percent of you should not be here, he told according to the Times of Israel. With one exceptions: Chinese internet companies cannot deal with algorithms. They urgently need mathematicians.Read More →

“Should I bother to come to China, people ask often, The answer generally is: No.” William Bao Bean talks to a group of Israeli startups in Tel Aviv. “When you use your gut feeling in China, you are mostly wrong. In China technology is not important, its about cash, friends or both.” Lessons from a seasoned investor, who says you can only succeed if you have an “unfair advantage”.Read More →

Business between China and Israel is brisk, and that is partly caused by the fact that both economies supplement each other. Where China needs innovation, Israel needs a sizable market to sell its innovations, a market it does not have among its hostile neighbors. Shanghai-based lawyer Mark Schaub just returned from his latest trip to Israel and made this overview.Read More →

The Bright Food Group has been looking for international acquisitions to accommodate Chinese hunger, and has recently started talks with Israel-based Tnuva Foods. After erstwhile favorite New Zealand’s Fonterra ran into problems, Europe and other countries have come on their agenda, explains business analyst Ben Cavender in the Wall Street Journal.Read More →