U.S. Executive Appeals For China Engagement

"At a precarious moment in relations between Washington and Beijing, a prominent American CEO is speaking up in favor of engagement with -- as opposed to decoupling from -- China.

"We must recommit to an interest-based approach to our economic relationship with China," Evan Greenberg, chief executive of insurer Chubb Ltd., is set to say in a speech to be delivered Tuesday. "I believe deeply that America is strengthened by having its companies compete and thrive in the global marketplace, and in China."

The U.S. business community for years had been the biggest lobbyist for Beijing in Washington. That lobby has splintered in recent years, as China's gradual turn toward greater state control over the economy has prompted many American companies to slow their expansion in the country.

Many U.S. companies, especially smaller manufacturers unhappy about a lack of market access in China, have cheered a tough U.S. approach toward Beijing.

Financial-services firms have remained relatively more engaged at a time when Beijing has broadened access for foreign banks, brokerages and insurers, one of the few areas of liberalization in China's economy in recent years.

Mr. Greenberg is a former chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council, a lobbying group for more than 200 U.S. companies doing business in China. Chinese leaders have long viewed his father, Hank Greenberg, the former CEO of insurance giant American International Group Inc., as an "old friend of China."

In his planned speech, the younger Mr. Greenberg, whom senior Chinese officials refer to as "Greenberg Junior," acknowledges that his pro-engagement argument "may invite criticism" because of Chubb's business interests in China. "But I'm willing to make the case because I believe engagement is in our interest," Mr. Greenberg said in an interview Monday. "In aggregate, we have benefited and continue to benefit from two-way trade and investments with China."

Chubb is increasing its stake in Huatai Insurance Group, a Chinese insurer and asset manager with 11 million customers, to over 50%. When completed, Huatai will account for less than 5% of Chubb's revenue, according to Mr. Greenberg.

The Biden administration has taken a tough stance on China in the foreign-policy realm, but many U.S. executives and trade associations say its messaging on trade and economic policy toward Beijing has been less clear.

So far, Washington has largely kept in place steep tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on $350 billion of Chinese imports.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that draft legislation in the U.S. could further redirect supply chains for some strategic products away from China and limit investment in the country.

While the Biden administration is considering ways to reconfigure some tariffs on some Chinese imports to ease inflation, it is also weighing whether to launch a probe into China's industrial subsidies, potentially adding new punitive measures.

Tentative signs are emerging that some in the U.S. and Chinese governments want to prevent relations from deteriorating further. When Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, met in Singapore over the past week, they emphasized the need to maintain open channels while also delivering pointed criticisms of each other.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met for 4 1/2 hours Monday with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, in Luxembourg, a senior Biden administration official said. The two discussed the sanctions on Russia, Taiwan, security in the Indo-Pacific region and other sore spots in the two countries' relations in what the official said was an effort to maintain communication." [1]

 

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1. U.S. News: U.S. Executive Appeals For China Engagement
Wei, Lingling; Hutzler, Charles. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 14 June 2022: A.4.