APEC cards are back – but now they are virtual. On 1 March 2021, Australia transitioned to the Virtual APEC Business Traveller Card (ABTC), a digital version of the card accessible through a cardholder’s smart device. Physical cards will no longer be issued to Australian applicants and cardholders. Rules around the APEC Business Travel Card which many businesspeople found very helpful – especially in travelling to China have been relaxed. Holders of the card do not have to apply for a visa which is time consuming and requires copious documentation each time you want to go.

China joined the APEC card scheme in 2001 and  the card was readily available to people travelling periodically to APEC economies, including China and not a lot of evidence was required; the scheme was then tightened and at one stage you required certification by an approved body (like Australian Industry Group) of your China activities. As translators, we were called upon to provide evidence of China engagement from time to time.

Good news for China Travellers

The Chinese Government has announced that it will accept the virtual APEC Business Traveller Card (ABTC) from 1 May 2023. The Chinese Government has also announced that as an interim arrangement, Chinese embassies and consulates will provide visas free of charge to those virtual ABTC holders who:

• have received pre-clearance from China and
• do not have a physical ABTC

China continues to accept physical ABTCs from all participating APEC economies.

Virtual ABTC holders need to provide proof pre-clearance has been granted by China. If no such proof is available, the application will be verified by China. Applicants may contact relevant Chinese embassies and consulates for details, noting the specific requirements and procedures may vary at different diplomatic services.

To be eligible, you need to be engaged in trade or investment, of senior status and provide a range of evidence digitally to the Immigration Department.

For more information: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-australia/business-travel-card/australian-citizens

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A smiling, waving Trade Minister met with his Chinese counterpart for the first time in over 3 years on 6 February.

Reflecting the warm meetings that had paved the way between Prime Minister Albanese and President Xi and between Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her Chinese counterpart, this was another positive step towards a restoration of this all-important relationship.

A well briefed Minister Farrell started the virtual meeting with Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao with the media in the room.

An also well-prepared Mandarin Interpreter was by his side with note book, vocab lists and pens ready to take down shorthand and accurately reflect Minister Farrell’s remarks. 

In recent times interpreters at these meetings have been hidden from sight – either behind their ministers or removed in a soundproof booth delivering Simultaneous Interpreting.  At yesterday’s meeting we could see the interpreter with pen poised to get started, where he was also welcomed by the Minister, and this meeting was run with Consecutive Interpreting.

So what is the difference between Consecutive Interpreting and Simultaneous Interpreting and what are the skills required?

We asked Chin’s MD Charles Qin who works in both of these interpreting ‘modes’.

Charles told us that the Chinese side has been running meetings in Simultaneous mode (when physical meetings are held). This means interpreters are seated in soundproof booths (either in a corner of the room or an adjacent room) connected with headphones to hear the dialogue, and, in real time – live, they are rendering those words back into the other language.  In the interpreter’s booth, they are listening to their minister or prime minister speak and at the same time converting that to Mandarin.  Yes, very difficult!

Consecutive Interpreting is one we are more familiar with – minister speaks and interpreter follows – back and forth. Interpreters must take appropriate notes and accurately render the words and the tone.

In both cases it is vital to reflect the tone, intent, meaning and to be precise in the choice of words.

Both modes require training, experience, lots of preparation and reading, familiarity with news, history and economy and, of course, first class language and interpreting skills. A calm, confident demeanour also gives the parties trust and means they can focus on the contents and relationship knowing that their words (and the relationship) are in safe hands.

Minister’s website and transcript of opening remarks: https://www.trademinister.gov.au/minister/don-farrell/transcript/meeting-chinas-minister-commerce-wang-wentao

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This week, Australia had its first ministerial visit to China in more than three years – when Foreign Minister Penny Wong met her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi on Wednesday 21 December. This meeting also fell on the 50^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and China, attributing even greater significance to this long overdue visit.

The inception of Chinese-Australian diplomatic relations can be traced back to 1971, when Gough Whitlam, then still the Leader of the Opposition, embarked on a historic trip to China. One of the earliest high-level political contacts between China and the West in the late 20^th century, Whitlam’s trip predated Henry Kissinger’s visit on behalf of the United States, and illuminated Whitlam’s determination to reimagine Australian foreign policy. This was achieved in the following year, when Whitlam was elected Prime Minister of Australia and the relationship between China and Australia was formalised.

Yet, under the sensitive international politics context of the time, Whitlam’s venture into China was deemed politically risky. It came about at a time when distrust, anxiety and paranoia was the order of the day when it came to international relations – a result of the Cold War (indeed, the Cold War is frequently referred to as the ‘War of Perceptions and Paradox’). It had distorted the West’s view of the East, and vice versa. Back then, the world looked to the US as a forerunner on diplomatic relations, but it would take another seven years for the US to form its own diplomatic relations with China. As such, the Whitlam Government’s recognition of the People’s Republic of China was received as a bold, and debatably radical, political venture. But opposing voices soon ceased as Australia witnessed the trajectory of China’s importance to the nation steadily climb decade after decade, and by 2007 China overtook Japan as Australia’s largest trading partner, and in 2009 China became Australia’s largest export market.

Despite sharing decades of respectful friendship, communication between the countries came to a halt in recent years, with Marise Payne’s visit in 2018 marking the last trip taken by an Australian Foreign Minister to China. This was exacerbated under the Morrison Government and against the backdrop of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and diplomatic dialogue between the two nations was officially suspended by China in May 2021.  

Fortunately, with the newly instated Albanese Government, Australia has witnessed a gradual comeback in friendly diplomatic relations with China. In 2022 alone, Chinese and Australian leaders have met on four separate occasions including the UN’s National Assembly in New York,  the G20 foreign ministers and the G20 summit in Bali, and, most recently Penny Wong’s visit to Beijing, ending the year on a high with optimism for 2023.

An aspect often overlooked between the meetings of global leaders is the interpreters hard at work behind the scenes. As the intention of these meetings is often to build trust and goodwill, effective communication is key, and this cannot be achieved without the help of good interpreters. Yet, diplomatic interpreters face some of the toughest challenges in the industry, as the dialogues they are interpreting often have the nation’s cultural, social, economic, defence and national interests at stake, and there is absolutely no room for error. As such, diplomatic interpreters often work under high-pressure conditions.

Assignments are under a veil of confidentiality as to the nature of the work and everything discussed. Diplomatic interpreters, therefore, need to do a great deal of preparing and reading. They also need to be well across the news, current affairs, world affairs, people and hot topics, across multiple industries and have an understanding of the many interest groups. Further, the protocol at this level is that the interpreters always interpret for their country – so in Australia’s case, interpreting from English into Mandarin. As such, much more than any other kind of interpreting, high-level proficiency in both languages, and the ability to deliver speech in a high-pressure context, is an absolute requirement for diplomatic interpreting.

When it comes to diplomatic meetings, in recent years in the interest of time, simultaneous interpreting is preferred over consecutive interpreting. With simultaneous interpreting, the speaker does not pause between utterances to allow time for the interpreter to translate (as is the case in consecutive interpreting), but rather, the interpreting is done in real-time and the interpreter translates while the speaker is talking. Simultaneous interpreters usually work in soundproof booths, and they receive and deliver utterances through a headset. As simultaneous interpreting requires the interpreter to digest the sentences, translate them, and concurrently listen to the following utterance, it requires utmost concentration. Conversely, in consecutive interpreting, the interpreter often sits next to or behind the speakers, and relies on note taking to ensure all crucial messages are captured in between pauses.

As helpful as interpreters are in bridging language barriers, there are some challenges that are inherent in interpreting. For example, jokes and puns are some of the most difficult to translate, yet they are ever-present in our dialogues – even in top-level political meetings. The G20 summit saw one such instance when Albanese’s playful joke about Australia’s changing of prime ministers took a few minutes to register in translation with the Chinese delegation who, thankfully, then laughed! Another example is when a pun was made to an electricity minister from China, “You must be a powerful person”. When dealing with these arguably untranslatable concepts, the interpreter’s comprehension and understanding of each country’s cultural nuances is put to the test – something that not every interpreter can do.

In summary, as we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Australian-Chinese diplomatic relations, a toast should be raised to our diplomatic interpreters. Thanks to their professionalism and dedication, the special relationship between China and Australia can continue to flourish and grow.

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Wrong!  If you are planning to go on an organised Mission, you better read on, so you can capitalise on the opportunity which may only come around once. A China mission could be your ticket to a successful future. But you need to get it right.

Here at Chin we’ve worked on numerous trade missions over the years: federal, state and local governments have led them. We’ve worked tirelessly to produce mission materials and profiles and provided  interpreters for the activities.

We  put in a huge amount of time to carefully translate individual profiles, minister messages and promotional material about the state/country, as well as Chinese business cards to create the right impression in China. We’ve participated in briefings and we talk with delegates to help ensure that their trade mission is successful.

So, whether you are part of a government mission or whether you are doing your own thing, this information will help you get it right.

MISSION MUSTS:

1. As one of a number of participating businesses, don’t expect the organiser to know about your business and objectives – you must spell out your requirements early in order to assist organisers to arrange suitable meetings and networking.
2. Participate in briefings, meet your fellow delegates and share information – talk to others who’ve been on previous missions and get some pointers and maybe even introductions.
3. Business card in top shape: we’ve seen a few doozies already – cards designed for Hong Kong (wrong); cards with no Chinese name (what will people call you); cards with funny fonts (wrong); cards with weird translations of business names (sanitary pads!) and titles (Office Manager not CEO), and so on. Make sure your Chinese Language card is your best selling tool AND take heaps of them – hundreds not dozens.
4. Research the organisations you may meet with; even tell the organisers who you’d like to meet and do your homework.
5. Hone your networking skills; don’t be shy – step up with a smile, approach Chinese attendees, exchange your business cards, look engaged and share some small talk; maybe the communication won’t be easy at first (grab an interpreter if you can), and the people you meet might not be in your area, but they might introduce you to someone who is.  Networking is vital
6. Two hands – present your cards (and anything else) with two hands and receive in the same way – polite and respectful.
7. Get your materials translated into good Chinese.  You need to be confident in the message and not waste such an opportunity with either no translation or poor Chinese (can you judge?) By this we include an attractive brochure about your product or service; a presentation of its features and benefits; a website or WeChat public account (Chinese will most likely check you out and will only bother if the information is in Chinese); visualise your offering on an iPad, for example – a picture tells a thousand words and while the words are helpful, how good would something like this be in a networking or speed business matching session where you could show off what you are on about visually!
8. Mission Accomplished – NO, not until you get back home and start to follow up on the contacts made.  Remember, no contact is wasted; as with a number of clients we’ve worked with over the years you’ll start off with a larger number of leads – get to know them and hone your list of potential business partners – the ones you don’t match up with can still be a great source of referrals. And don’t forget to keep in touch and make another visit soon.

The value of participation in a business mission should not be underestimated.  Missions led by senior figures put you into an elite space in China.  Not only that, higher level businesspeople – decision makers – will turn out to events, so raise your profile and place in the pecking order, but as mentioned above make sure you have the right tools and attitude to make it a mission accomplished.

The post China Missions are Back! – Eight things you must do to make your mission possible appeared first on Chin Communications.

Hosting businesses too can suffer in reputation by being associated with these ‘tours’.  Many have learnt the hard way, hosting site visits, speakers and giving valuable time to meet Chinese delegates and share their proprietary information and experience, only to find out later on that most of the ‘valuable information’ was lost.  You know where I’m going, don’t you – poor translations!

A Model Program

By contrast, to set up an enduring relationship, and pave the way for ongoing programs, we reckon the Australia and New Zealand School of Government’s program which ran for ten years – was the model. Setting a very high bar and scooping any competition, Professor Allan Fels’s organisation put together a perfect program – the China Advanced Leadership Program which led to more business and closer ties (for a time, anyway), plus benefits to participating organisations.  An impressive agenda like theirs may not be accessible to all of us – receptions at Government House, meetings with Governor-General, PM and Foreign Minister, tours and functions hosted by major players in China relationships, access to Department Heads in Australia and New Zealand and presentations by leading businesspeople.

ANZSOG identified very early the need for a top interpreting team to ‘deliver’ the important training to the Chinese executives. The team was engaged over 6 months prior and consulted on how to achieve the best results. Presentations were translated by the team too so that delegates would have Chinese materials to underpin their learning. Plenty of time was provided to the interpreting/translating team to assimilate all of the information across topics as diverse as Emotional Intelligence and the revolution of technology in the media.

You might say – most Chinese speak English!  Why do they need interpreters?  That is a good question, and, indeed, some educated Chinese and some of the delegates do speak English to some extent.  A delegation of trainees will contain people who have good English and many who have none.  But factor in the Australian situation, accents and practices and even someone with good English will struggle to follow and understand the Australian perspective. With a good interpreter, your valuable information will be fully imparted, face protected and your stakeholders rewarded, such as was delivered in the ANZSOG program.

So what is good interpreting?

Good interpreting and therefore good results for the listening audience comes from selecting trained, experienced, professional interpreters.  Engaging them early (good interpreters are generally very busy), briefing them, passing on all information, presentations and itinerary early, and treating them as valuable team members will bring the best out and ensure happy delegates.  Happy delegates lead to more business. Good interpreting is NOT achieved by leaving interpreter choice to the last minute, choosing someone cheap and assuming that they can just turn up and know everything they need to know about complex and varied topics. We see this approach often and unfortunately the monolingual organisers don’t realise just what a disaster ensues.

There are two modes of interpreting to consider. Consecutive interpreting – many of you will be familiar with an interpreter consecutively interpreting a speaker’s words – speaker speaks for a minute or two, interpreter takes notes (watch for the good ones who get it all down), speaker pauses, interpreter interprets the words fully into the other language and so on.  The downside is that any program will take twice as long or you have to cut the content.  The other mode – Simultaneous Interpreting (SI) – is just that – done in real time, simultaneously or live. Simultaneous Interpreting requires special equipment, including receivers and headsets, and, most importantly, trained Simultaneous Interpreters.  Not just any ‘bilingual person’ can undertake this work – a popular misconception. So more information can be included in a program and attendees don’t have to sit through double content.

Budget and timeline will dictate which mode works for you.  ANZSOG has used Simultaneous Interpreting throughout its three week program.  At its training facility permanent SI equipment has been installed; on site visits portable systems have been taken – the result has been continuous engagement and maximum information flow. The other important decision was to engage a team of 3 interpreters. The UN and other major conferences will have 3, 4 or more interpreters on a team – we rarely see this in business due to cost constraints.  In addition at networking functions or dinners, additional local interpreters have been hired to assist with conversations between the parties.

Any type of interpreting is extremely demanding on the brain – especially SI, interpreters must rest every 20 – 30 minutes or the brain melts down! So bear these points in mind when factoring interpreting into an equation.

Another Model for long-term Engagement

The City of Melbourne and RMIT ran a ” Tianjin Government Leaders’ Program” for ten years. Enlightened leaders on both sides saw the opportunity for up-and-coming managers in Tianjin to learn business and management tools from Australia, and the City of Melbourne saw the opportunity for linkages between the two cities to be deepened.  Many, many business deals and ventures have grown from this decision. Tianjin and Melbourne are the absolute model in a Sister-City relationship – one we’ve been associated with for all of this time. One of the key planks in this program is the use of capable, trained interpreters in the classroom, on site visits and networking functions.  Without good interpreters, the program would never have lasted the distance. This program engages Consecutive Interpreters and the long-term relationship between interpreters and presenters ensures a high-quality engagement.  Over 220 leaders from Tianjin benefitted – some have gone on to senior roles and all have been great advocates for Melbourne and the participating organisations.  Needless to say, business has followed and will continue to flow on.

So, if you are serious about offering proper training and engagement with Chinese delegates – there are a number of important factors to consider early on – the most vital is the choice of your interpreting team. Without them you are wasting your time and jeopardising any future business.

The post How to Run a Serious Training Program for Chinese Delegates and Attract More Business appeared first on Chin Communications.

Despite decades of economic reform, rapid economic growth, dramatic social change, and integration with the outside world – the Party and Xi retain an iron grip on political authority and national policy making in China.

“Now a central committee, politburo and standing committee dominated by Xi would mean a significant loss of checks and balances. Xi’s policy of putting ideology and national security over economic development will continue for the coming five or even 10 years as he is eager to rule until the 22nd party congress in 2032 when he will be 79,” said Willy Lam, a senior fellow at Jamestown Foundation, a Washington-based thinktank. (The Guardian)

All institutions of the state, of government, the military, and increasingly businesses are led by and staffed by Party members.  The exercise of all government administration is a direct reflection of Party-made policies and preferences. Party members are subject above all to internal Party supervision and discipline. At each level of government – national, provincial, city and down to village level – is a matching Party organisation.

The Party and government structures sit side-by-side at all levels, with the Party’s representative always the more powerful. Thus a province’s Party Secretary takes precedence over its governor.

By the end of 2022 total membership of the Chinese Communist Party had reached over 96 million – making it the largest political organisation in the world. How to become a Party member is not entirely clear to outsiders. To gain entry the applicant must be aged 18, have the endorsement of several existing Party members and undergo extensive background and personal political checks before being approved. At least one year of probation and further checks follow. Today many of the old barriers to Party membership – such as the applicant’s “class background” – have been removed; former senior leader Jiang Zemin took the step of allowing even private entrepreneurs to become Party Members.

Not a great deal is known about the internal processes and decision-making of the Chinese Communist Party. The simplest way to explain its operation is to adopt a pyramidal structure, with mass membership forming the Party base, and then leading up level by level to the apex. Here where final power and decision-making authority is concentrated in Xi Jinping with seven members of the Standing Committee of the Party Politburo.

The seven members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo have day to day responsibility for governing China. How the Standing Committee operates is secret. But its meetings are thought to be regular and frequent, often characterised by blunt speaking and disagreement. Senior leaders speak first and then sum up, giving their views extra weight. The emphasis is always on reaching a consensus, but if no consensus is reached, the majority holds sway. Once a decision has been made, all members are bound by it.

The members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo are Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi – all men.

In theory the upper echelons of the Party – including these most senior leaders – are accountable to and elected by the Party’s grassroots membership through an ongoing series of formal meetings and internal Party processes, which are outlined in the Party’s Constitution. Every five years the Party convenes its National Congress to which over 2,000 delegates are elected / nominated. These delegates in turn elect the Party Central Committee, which in turn elects the higher-level Standing Committee, Politburo and ultimately the Standing Committee of the Politburo.

In reality the nomination and approval of appointments to the most senior positions is the result of extensive behind the scenes discussions, negotiations and compromises worked out between different groups, coalitions of interests and influential Party figures and increasingly with loyalty to Xi Jinping himself being the main criterion.

CHIN Communications

CHIN regularly presents on Chinese Language and Culture topics to universities, business organisations, businesses, and government departments and has helped prepare hundreds of Australians for successful business missions with China.

Spend some time discussing your needs with one of the CHIN team and we will be delighted to put some suggestions together to help you.

The post China’s Party – How Does the System Work? appeared first on Chin Communications.

During Covid, contact between China and Australia stalled and many training programs were halted. While doing programs on zoom worked in certain situations, one of the main reasons for such programs is for both sides to develop long-lasting connections – face-to-face and to gain first hand experience in country. It got me reflecting on two types of engagement – successful in different ways. It’s time to rejuvenate these activities and to look back to effective strategies…

It was 2013, there was a new government in Victoria and our march to the largest market in the world was cranking up. I attended the Victorian Premier’s launch of the amazing 2013 trade mission to China. It was exciting to hear that of over 600 delegates, 30% had never exported to China before and one-third were from outside Melbourne. Apart from hoping to generate as many promising leads as possible, I had also been thinking, that to tap into the Asian (particularly Chinese) market, we needed to lift our aims and what we were offering – it was not enough to  offer humdrum goods and services. China was undergoing rapid change and government and business needs are constantly changing too. And you have probably all heard it too many times, only those businesses that develop a genuine China strategy will stay on board for the ride. This meant that we need to go beyond selling humdrum services and further engage with our Chinese stakeholders. The government was on board and the mission was a huge success.

At the same time, there was a lot of competition for China engagement and it seemed not a week went by and we were hearing about this program, or that visit… In particular, the Chinese market in Australia was cluttered with “organisers” arranging training programs for Chinese delegates to make a buck, without much thought to actually delivering any benefits to the delegates who usually pay a lot for the “pleasure”. Over many decades we’ve assisted and supported various clients on similar programs – some are really successful and some are, unfortunately, not. With first-hand experience on two successful programs, it inspired me to write this article and share some of my thoughts on how to foster a long-term relationship with Chinese stakeholders as the shadow of Covid lifts and the relationship resumes.

City of Melbourne and Tianjin

One of the earliest and most successful programs is with the City of Melbourne. As some of you may know, Melbourne and Tianjin have been Sister Cities for over 40 years. The relationship is an icon for sister-city relationships around the world. The connection has benefitted Melbourne to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars and created significant opportunities in both cities. For instance, Melbourne has been supporting Tianjin’s urban  development which is part of the important government agenda. Melbourne City has utilized its resources and expertise within this portfolio and assisted a  number of Melbourne urban design companies to secure business deals. Some of the key projects include:

• Tianjin Economic‐Technological Development Area Stadium
• Tianjin Binhai AFL Ground
• Tianjin Haihe River redevelopment
• Tianjin Astor Hotel retrofit design.

Other areas of partnership include education, biotechnology, health, sport and finance. There were numerous exchanges every year, as well as organised missions that help Melbourne businesses connect at multiple levels and regions in China. The Lord Mayor spoke about the importance of Melbourne’s relationship with China:

“Our strong relationship with China has helped generate $850 million worth of business agreements including clinical and research work between major hospitals, development and construction work and a biomedical technology and investment alliance”.

In October every year for a decade, a handful of Tianjin executives were selected to come to Melbourne for a work placement to learn about Australia and enhance their management skills.  The City’s Business and International Department masterminded the program and prepared training, site visits and work tailored to their needs. Confucius Institute provides a two-week induction and English Language training as well.  Placements included organisations like the Port of Melbourne, universities, and several departments at the City which all dovetailed well with the delegates’ roles in Tianjin.

La Trobe Financial

Another good example was an initiative tailored to the financial services sector run by La Trobe Financial, which was widely praised because of the care taken in composition and relationship-building. La Trobe Financial established the  La Trobe Financial Professional Placement Scholarship with the aim to establish and enhance relationships with up-and-coming executives in the financial arena in China. Executives from the banking and securities industry came for the six-week program to learn about Australia’s financial system.

The carefully choreographed itinerary took in presentations by organisations like the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, meetings with politicians and briefings by academics, lawyers and bankers. Delegates learnt about Australia’s governance, regulations, financial systems and markets; they developed cross-cultural understanding and gained experience working in Australia’s financial sector.  The group also visited Canberra and Sydney and managed to fit in some fun with hospitality and sightseeing.

Chin Communications is proud to have supported both programs – as well as language help, we presented to each of the groups on topics such as Australia’s history, structure and government, education system and language and culture.

Below are some of our pointers to construct and deliver a worthwhile China engagement program that brings benefits to both China and Australia:

1. Canvas interest and applications by promoting your program and its benefits to your targeted community; choose dates that work for both sides; select candidates with a good fit who are up-and-coming
2. Once you know the attendees, tweak the program/select workplaces which are relevant and ‘train’ them if necessary in managing Chinese delegates. Send the final program details in advance
3. Choose good presenters and use a mix of Chinese and English if  possible – or see our point about Mandarin interpreters below
4. Organise a welcome event and celebrate commencement with speeches and photographs in a formal way – it is a good networking opportunity with other clients and targets too
5. Organise a farewell event lunch or banquet with gifts, speeches and good cheer (and tears if you’ve done a great job!)
6. Delegates should present a report on their learning as well as important feedback to help improve future programs
7. Some fun – do include some sightseeing, social events, invites to homes and make the visitors welcome
8. Language – of course, we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t mention a very  important item.  Interpreting of a high standard MUST be provided OR the delegates need advanced English. Without this, much of your valuable content will be lost and investment wasted. Think about your aims for the program in the first place.

Find out more about Mandarin Interpreting

Of course, investment by the Australian organisers in time and funds is necessary to pull off a successful program. Such investment may not be repaid today or tomorrow, but long term benefits and relationships will come and business will follow!

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For the next 30 years Chin has followed and supported the trajectory of Australia’s love affair with China and was part of the action almost from the start. Here are some highlights:

Taking Aussie beer to China – Fosters (Carlton and United Breweries) set up 3 joint ventures starting in 1993 and ending in 2006 when it sold the final Shanghai one. As well as translation support, Chin provided culture and language training.

Selling LNG to China – a 25-year contract worth up to A$25 billion in export income for Australia. PM John Howard described it as “Australia’s largest single export deal.”

Supporting Australian insurance companies to consummate their deals with China – winning insurance licences to operate in China.  National Mutual and Colonial Mutual, as they were then, courted Chinese during the 90s to win the coveted prize. Colonial won the first licence, but French firm Axa, which had merged with National Mutual, also received a licence in 1999.  Chin was active in supporting the drive providing interpreting, translation and language training for much of the 1990s.

Improving the health of Chinese started with Australian dairy in the 1990s and the market is now worth over $1 billion per year to Australia. In 1993 there was just $2 million of dairy exports to China. There is a lot of upside here still. China is the world’s second-largest dairy market after the US and the world’s largest one by dairy imports – 90 billion USD and nearly 28 million tons of products consumed in 2020 alone (daxue consulting).

Chin is a dairy translation expert having provided services to Dairy Australia since 1999 – including its 20+ year dairy scholarship program. Since the early 1990s, Chin has supported dairy manufacturers with quality assurance and label translations as well as ongoing marketing and technical translation services. With an average Chinese consuming 13 kilograms of dairy every year (only one-third of the global average), there is room for much more. Dairy manufacturers please take note!

Australian foods loved by Chinese have grown to include dairy, seafood, fruit, meat, chocolates, nuts and grains, coffee – and even tea. It seems anything is possible.  The Chinese audience loves recipe videos which we have been subtitling to make them accessible. The social media Red platform has proven a good promotional tool for our clients.

The Chinese may not have taken to Aussie beer, but other beverages have burgeoned including wine. Penfolds has been a continuing story for Chin – once owned by Fosters and finally a jewel in the Treasury Wine Estates stable. The crowning glory for Chin was the first ever translation and production of the Chinese version of Penfolds’ “Rewards of Patience” book in 2013. It proved to be a wonderful gift to Chinese clients.

More recently foreign beauty products have become popular in China and Chin has helped educate Aussie manufacturers about their marketing materials and imagery and delivered word perfect content.

The growth of Chinese social media has been a vital channel to inform and promote and Aussie firms have embraced WeChat and Red in particular for both domestic and China markets.

Finally, the Australia-China Free Trade Agreement marked the zenith of Australia’s relationship with China in 2016 and was ten years in the making.  Australian exporters have benefitted since – some now with zero tariffs. Chin’s team supported the negotiations from day one.

Despite political difficulties over recent years, Australian products remain popular in China and business relationships continue. Many opportunities exist for new products or offerings in the China market. As Australia’s largest trading partner, it is critical that we keep in touch with our Chinese stakeholders and customers. Will there ever be a better market for our goods and services?

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