American Companies Escape China Sanctions Over Pelosi Visit: U.S.-China Forum

When China was unhappy with South Korea over its decision to deploy a U.S. anti-missile defense system several years ago, Beijing punished Seoul by curtailing culture exchanges between the two sides.

This month, Beijing has been even angrier about the visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which China, of course, claims as its territory. Notably, however, Beijing hasn’t retaliated against U.S. firms amid the bitter dispute.

“It is heartening to see that business continuity and business between the United States and China continues, and there have not been threats against U.S. companies,” said Steve Orlins, president of the prestigious National Committee on U.S.-China Relations at the U.S.-China Business Forum held at Forbes on Fifth on Tuesday. “Bear in mind that is not always the case.”

“You had pop singers from South Korea who couldn’t perform in China, a whole series of things. We are not seeing that now,” and that shows there is a understanding in the senior levels of the Chinese government that continuing business while we are having this diplomatic and political crisis is a good thing.”

“The media is painting a much darker picture,” Orlins noted. “There were huge risks” to Pelosi’s visit, “but business has continued, investment has continued, and trade has continued,” said Orlins, the committee’s leader since 2005 who previously held top posts at Lehman Brothers and Carlyle Asia.

Orlins’ optimism today contrasts with his own sense of the crisis earlier this month. “The conversation was so dark prior to the visit: Would the Speaker’s plane be diverted by the PLA Air Force? Would she be allowed to land? Would she be allowed to take off?”

“The fact is that we are now through the acute phase of this crisis and that the crisis management mechanism between the United States and China during this period has really worked pretty well,” Orlins said.

Orlins lauded the role of businesspeople in stabilizing ties between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies. “Americans who invest are ambassadors for American culture, history and values to China. When China started investing in the United States, folks who were from China and investing in the United States were the ambassadors for China’s culture and history and values, just as Americans who invested decades earlier,” he said.

The 4^th U.S.-China Business Forum was organized by Forbes China, the Chinese-language edition of Forbes. The gathering was held in person for the first time since 2019; it was held online in 2020 and 2021 during the height of the Covid 19 pandemic.

Other speakers included China Ambassador to the U.S. Qin Gang; Wei Hu, Chairman, China General Chamber of Commerce – USA; James Shih, vice president, SEMCORP; Abby Li, Director of Corporate Communication and Research, China General Chamber of Commerce; Audrey Li, Managing Director, BYD America; Lu Cao, Managing Director, Global Corporate Bank, Corporate & Investment Bank, J.P. Morgan.

Also speaking were Sean Stein, chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Ken Jarrett, Senior Advisor, Albright Stonebridge Group; John Quelch Dean Emeritus and Honorary Chairman of the International Advisory Board at CEIBS; Dr. Bob Li, Physician Ambassador to China and Asia-Pacific, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; and Yue-Sai Kan, Co-Chair, China Institute.

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@rflannerychina