Brexit Britain and China-Leveraging on resources to build a partnership

Sam Jacobs China Plus Published: 2018-03-02 19:33:01
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By Sam Jacobs

Brexit is an opportunity for Britain to recalibrate and present a more complete picture of its capability.

For the average Chinese visitor, Britain largely positions itself well as a place for shopping for luxury goods, sightseeing, private schooling, further education and buying properties. Such business lines produce consistent sources of revenue for UK Plc. However, Britain is less good at positioning itself as a place for more specialist areas such as advanced engineering, healthcare, life sciences, environmental and digital technologies. Transaction here is more difficult due to the complexity of subject matter and degree of cross-cultural competence.

People watch dragon dance to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, on Jan. 29, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

People watch dragon dance to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, on Jan. 29, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

Cross-cultural competence is a two-way street. Whilst both countries have absorbed and continue to absorb international influences, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the core cultural and linguistic systems are not cognate.  This has implications for the type and depth of transaction - the more layered it is, then the greater the need for cross-cultural dexterity. This is relevant to Britain because there is a perception amongst many British that translation per se equates to effective communication – it does not. Content needs to be curated with an appreciation of conceptual differences, the degree of prior knowledge and the density of the subject matter. So even when a mutually understood and agreed problem is found to be worth resolving, the subsequent solution process will need to be carefully navigated with a keen sense of the trust variables and how they are to be managed.

Britain’s Achilles has long been its indifference towards learning foreign languages. This has been undervalued and underinvested domain, and it harms Britain’s prospects. The British Empire may have been responsible for creating c1.14bn non-native speakers but it has provided generations of British an excuse not to learn foreign languages. The world has moved on, and so too must Britain. Nelson Mandela observed: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”  In light of Brexit, Britain needs to learn to talk to the heart. This is about people-to-people exchange leading to better shared outcomes.

The key to increasing Britain’s effectiveness in business with China is to reciprocate the effort.  China places immense value on its students who come to Britain and study technical subjects (in English), upskill and gain valuable experience. In light of this, British business leaders should be making a clarion call for developing multi-skilled native British Chinese-speaking talent.

Sadly, a few years ago, I attended a breakfast in London where a British business leader gave a talk on the subject of doing business with China. In response to a forum question from a member of the audience on the value of learning Chinese, the speaker summarised that  was “a waste of time - like watching a dog standing on its hind legs as if it was begging for attention”. Refreshingly, last week I met a thriving business which employs a significant number of native British Chinese speakers as response to Chinese customer demand because of the affinity they had with the subject.

More of British commerce and industry needs to meet such demand. In 21st century Britain, here are 29 Confucius Institutes, 148 Confucius Classrooms, numerous private language colleges, universities and other educational institutions which teach Chinese and Chinese culture. In addition to this there are 78,000 Chinese students to engage with. Many of them multi-talented, networked back to Chinese business and capable of promoting bilateral relations. However, without Britain building its side of the bridge from the ground up, the partnership will not develop to its true potential. 

As for the British Dream? Imagine a British engineer of Pakistani descent who speaks both Urdu and Chinese playing an integral part in the the Belt and Road Initiative. A British Dream worth aspiring to? I think so. The resources to strengthen bilateral and multi-lateral relations are right under the Britain’s nose. It needs to use them.

(Sam Jacobs is a business analyst based in London)

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LU Xiankun Professor LU Xiankun is Managing Director of LEDECO Geneva and Associate Partner of IDEAS Centre Geneva. He is Emeritus Professor of China Institute for WTO Studies of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) and Wuhan University (WHU) of China and visiting professor or senior research fellow of some other universities and think tanks in China and Europe. He also sits in management of some international business associations and companies, including as Senior Vice President of Shenzhen UEB Technology LTD., a leading e-commerce company of China. Previously, Mr. LU was senior official of Chinese Ministry of Commerce and senior diplomat posted in Europe, including in Geneva as Counsellor and Head of Division of the Permanent Mission of China to the WTO and in Brussels as Commercial Secretary of the Permanent Mission of China to the EU. Benjamin Cavender Benjamin Cavender is a Shanghai based consultant with more than 11 years of experience helping companies understand consumer behavior and develop go to market strategies for China. He is a frequent speaker on economic and consumer trends in China and is often featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Channel News Asia. Sara Hsu Sara Hsu is an associate professor from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She is a regular commentator on Chinese economy. Xu Qinduo Xu Qinduo is CRI's former chief correspondent to Washington DC, the United States. He works as the producer, host and commentator for TODAY, a flagship talk show on current affairs. Mr. Xu contributes regularly to English-language newspapers including Shenzhen Daily and Global Times as well as Chinese-language radio and TV services. Lin Shaowen A radio person, Mr. Lin Shaowen is strongly interested in international relations and Chinese politics. As China is quite often misunderstood in the rest of the world, he feels the need to better present the true picture of the country, the policies and meanings. So he talks a lot and is often seen debating. Then friends find a critical Lin Shaowen criticizing and criticized. George N. Tzogopoulos Dr George N. Tzogopoulos is an expert in media and politics/international relations as well as Chinese affairs. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre International de Européenne (CIFE) and Visiting Lecturer at the European Institute affiliated with it and is teaching international relations at the Department of Law of the Democritus University of Thrace. George is the author of two books: US Foreign Policy in the European Media: Framing the Rise and Fall of Neoconservatism (IB TAURIS) and The Greek Crisis in the Media: Stereotyping in the International Press (Ashgate) as well as the founder of chinaandgreece.com, an institutional partner of CRI Greek. David Morris David Morris is the Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commissioner in China, a former Australian diplomat and senior political adviser. Harvey Dzodin After a distinguished career in the US government and American media Dr. Harvey Dzodin is now a Beijing-based freelance columnist for several media outlets. While living in Beijing, he has published over 200 columns with an emphasis on arts, culture and the Belt & Road initiative. He is also a sought-after speaker and advisor in China and abroad. He currently serves as Nonresident Research Fellow of the think tank Center for China and Globalization and Senior Advisor of Tsinghua University National Image Research Center specializing in city branding. Dr. Dzodin was a political appointee of President Jimmy Carter and served as lawyer to a presidential commission. Upon the nomination of the White House and the US State Department he served at the United Nations Office in Vienna, Austria. He was Director and Vice President of the ABC Television in New York for more than two decades.