This week, JPMorgan held its first Global China Summit in mainland China for the first time in years. The Shanghai conference brought together nearly 3,000 attendees from around the world, and the tagline was “Get Ready for an Update.”
Ostensibly, the event was meant to be another example of China’s reopening for international business after the pandemic. But this is not a cause for public celebration, but rather a matter of great caution, reflected in the way Bank of America has handled its own events.
With the exception of an interview with CEO Jamie Dimon on Bloomberg TV and some domestic media, the meeting was held entirely behind closed doors, almost successfully avoiding any political landmines.
In this regard, it outlines a principle that is increasingly important to foreign companies in the mainland. If in the American world all publicity is good publicity, in China it is often bad, even if sometimes unavoidable.
One China observer who attended the meeting said the overall domestic communications environment in China was the worst he had seen in decades.At the event, Henry Kissinger celebrated his 100th birthday this week Happy birthdayEmphasize the need to “talk” in a private video link from the United States.
But companies with ambitions in China have been caught up in tensions between Beijing and Washington. In private comments at the event, Dimon said the international order is now more “complex” than it was during the Cold War.
In the absence of freedom to speak or remain silent, strange twists emerge. At press conferences held by the Chinese government, the language is not just scripted but carefully planned to avoid any surprises. This method predates the Communist Party by far, as it is widely described as the term used for the formulaic essay style required for civil service exams in the Ming Dynasty.
Few foreign companies are required to communicate in mainland China, but more and more, they are opting for something similar. One attendee at the JPMorgan conference complained that the panel discussions at the event seemed very scripted.
While pre-pandemic China would not be described as an environment conducive to public discourse, the zero-Covid era has changed the tone significantly. Criticism of the government’s attempt to wipe out the coronavirus is largely illegal, and all media coverage of the process is tightly controlled.
The zero-Covid regime was abruptly abandoned late last year, but some of its practices persist: Another Shanghai conference this week, hosted by the New Development Bank, required participants to take a PCR test within 12 hours of the 9.30am start.
The indifference of discourse continued. Even in a week marking the first anniversary of the end of Shanghai’s two-month lockdown, there was hardly any discussion of it, one of the most unusual events in modern history.
Dimon, a well-respected figure in China, was almost immediately forgiven for joking in Hong Kong in 2021 that his bank would outlive the Communist Party. This week, while he privately emphasized his long-term commitment, his public comments included mild criticism of the Chinese government and the “uncertainty” it generates.
But Dimon also could not answer repeated questions about whether he had met with top state officials. JPMorgan declined to comment on the so-called “private” meeting when he met Chen Jining, the top Communist Party official, in Shanghai the day before the meeting. State media had by this time posted minutes of the meeting on social media, which included Dimon’s “expressed” views related to supporting Shanghai that went well beyond his own public comments.
This caution points to a broader problem. Less is known about the impact of other forms of language, such as investment banking research, economic analysis, or even the way companies internally transmit information from their continental operations to their European or US headquarters. Speakers at the JPMorgan conference were generally eager for more conversation. Ironically, the event itself has been subsumed into an environment that has become largely impossible.
thomas.hale@ft.com