More than 600 people registered for a half-day forum in Beijing on June 22, 2026, and the guest list read like a map of foreign business in China: executives from Merck, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, Rolls-Royce and Samsung, plus ambassadors from Southeast Asia and Europe. The host was the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, and the event, its 10th Economic Symposium, took place at the school’s new Beijing campus.
Two trade relationships framed the day. According to the school, bilateral trade between China and ASEAN passed USD 1 trillion in 2025, while China and Europe still exchange more than €700 billion in goods each year.
A growth engine pointed outward
Dean Li Haitao opened with a keynote titled “Setting Sail Against the Wind.” His argument was that China’s growth no longer rests on real estate and infrastructure. Exports and technology have taken over, he said, led by electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels and wind turbines, and the Global South now takes more than 45% of China’s exports. “The Global South is a new blue ocean of opportunities for Chinese companies, especially those in manufacturing and technology sectors,” Li said.
He offered two examples of firms that have made the leap. BYD is the second best-selling car brand in Thailand, he noted, and Anker earns more than 96% of its revenue overseas. He also warned that those markets carry regulatory, trade and geopolitical risks of their own, and that companies must “go in” before they can go out, meaning real roots, not just shipments.
Indonesia’s ambassador to China, Djauhari Oratmangun, put the Southeast Asian case. Bilateral trade with Indonesia reached roughly USD 168 billion in 2025, he said, and he pointed to practical steps such as settling more trade in local currencies and linking the two countries’ QR-code payment systems. He also cited Indonesia’s young workforce and its reserves of strategic minerals central to batteries. “In an increasingly fragmented world, ASEAN can serve as a bridge between developed and developing economies,” he said.
The new playbook
Professor Li Wei, an associate dean at the school, presented a Chinese-language report, The New Chinese Playbook for Going Global, based on fieldwork in Indonesia and Malaysia. It describes three phases: exporting products, then channels, then capabilities. Large lead firms, the report says, carry their suppliers abroad in a chain, while smaller companies spread in swarms through shared digital platforms, industrial parks and overseas warehouses. Li’s summary was that the new approach is not “Copy from China” but “Grow with Local.”
The first panel, which Li moderated, took up whether ASEAN complements China or competes with it. Qu Tian of ATM Capital cited a Singapore survey in which 80% of Indonesians chose China over the United States. Xu Longhua, whose company WOOK reaches 100,000 retail outlets in Indonesia, said selling products alone no longer works. Malaysia’s Unny Sankar, a minister at his country’s embassy, was blunter about what his region wants: technology transfer, close cooperation with small and medium-sized firms, and joint ventures that let local companies grow alongside the Chinese entrants.
Europe’s view
The diplomats’ session on China-Europe ties was moderated by Professor Tao Zhigang. Martin Matter of the Swiss embassy said Switzerland has no “favorite industries” and welcomed Chinese firms to use its openness as a base for European business. Finland’s ambassador, Mikko Kinnunen, spoke about opportunities and challenges in bilateral and EU-China relations.
The closing panel asked why European multinationals keep investing in China despite the talk of de-risking. Li Ye of Merck China pointed to the country’s scale in clinical trials and an ageing population that drives demand for new medicines. Zhang Hong, vice chair of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, said electrification, not oil, is now reshaping her sector as electric vehicles, data centers and AI raise electricity demand.
The forum was supported by the European Union, British, Swiss and Indonesian chambers of commerce in China.
Sources
- CKGSB's Economic Symposium Explores China's Next Chapter of Global Growth
- CKGSB Hosts 10th Economic Symposium in Beijing, Spotlighting China-ASEAN and China-Europe Economic Ties
