The China Development Forum this weekend might be the most important economic summit you have never heard of.
The chief executives of companies ranging from Facebook to Rio Tinto are gathering in Beijing with top academics and politicians for a pay-to-play event promising audiences with China’s top leadership.
Participants are invited to make “donations” to the elite event starting at 1 million yuan (US$155,000) and ranging upwards from there, according to documents obtained by AFP.
Photo: AP
For 3 million yuan, the companies are allowed to name a panel discussion and “nominate speakers and panelists.”
Proceeds go to “relevant research projects and administrative expenses of the conference,” which is organized by the little-known China Development Research Foundation (CDRF), a proxy for one of the Communist government’s planning agencies.
“Other forms of donation are open for discussion,” the documents said, with one previous attendee suggesting participants can pay extra to be seated near top leaders.
The forum, which is in its 17th year, directly follows the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s rubber stamp legislature, and is pitched as an opportunity for leaders of the financial and business world to learn about the parliament’s achievements.
This year, the NPC approved the country’s new five-year plan, which is to guide economic and social policy to 2020, and attendees are “keen to hear from the horse’s mouth” what the document means for the nation’s ailing economy, said the long-time participant, who asked not to be named in order to speak frankly about the event.
Even though the panels and speeches are of questionable value, executives “fork out a lot of money to be there,” he said. “This year in particular is the best attendance list I’ve ever seen.”
When the forum started in 2000, only 19 “delegates” attended, according to that event’s Web site.
However, 16 years later, following the international financial crisis and China’s transformation into the world’s second-largest economy, the invitation-only event has become a who’s who of international power brokers.
Return attendees include IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and the chief executives of major international companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell, Siemens, Boeing and IBM.
Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who played a key role in establishing diplomatic ties between Washington and Beijing, is to attend.
However, even by previous standards, this year’s attendees stand out. Outspoken libertarian and PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel has made time to hear from the world’s most powerful Communist Party.
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced his presence in the country that bans his Web site, with an ingratiating photograph of himself jogging, maskless, through a smog-wreathed Tiananmen Square.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the participation of so many of the world’s most powerful people, relatively little is known about what goes on at the China Development Forum. Media coverage is largely limited to Chinese-language outlets, including many state-run media, which in the past have portrayed delegates’ presence as evidence of Beijing’s economic management skills.
The organizers denied AFP’s request to attend, saying that media participation was “invite only.”
Attendees have lauded the country following past sessions.
“China is now firmly committed to implementing a new growth strategy,” wrote Stephen Roach, the former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, after the 2013 meeting. “The debate is over.”
However, the debate is still going on, with policymakers struggling to decide how they might implement the painful reforms analysts say are necessary to ensure the economy’s long-term health. In the meantime, pressures to resort to old-style stimulus to boost short-term prospects mount as growth slows.
On its Web site, the CDRF describes itself as a “think tank on public policy issues” dedicated to “furthering equitable development in China.”
The organization is funded by donations from within China and abroad, it said, and was “initiated” by the Development Research Center of the State Council, which formulates economic and social policy for the Chinese government and the Communist Party’s central leadership.
Most of the CDRF events take place at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, where China’s leaders receive visiting heads of state.
During the meeting, according to promotional materials provided to attendees, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (張高麗) “personally meets with invited overseas delegates to solicit their views.” They also have the chance to hear speeches from the country’s finance and commerce ministers and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) receives attendees in the Great Hall of the People.
The meetings “are stupefyingly dull, but they do represent what’s happening in policy and you can read the body language,” said Anne Stevenson-Yang (楊思安), a China expert and cofounder of investment advisers J Capital Research.
Given the star power and the crucial size of China’s market, the unnamed regular participant said, executives feel “this is something I have to attend.”
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