On December 7, the 2015 China-Chile Forum was held in the International Conference Hall of the Administrative Building, GDUFS, hosted by the Collaborative Innovation Center for 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Studies and co-hosted by China-Chile Research Center, GDUFS. Mr. Carlos J. Marin, the Consul General of the Chile Consulate General in Guangzhou, and HE Chuantian, Vice President of GDUFS, attended the event, as well as students and staff from the School of Business. On the first day of the forum, SUI Guangjun, Vice Chairman of the University Board, warmly received Mr. Carlos J. Marin and Guillermo Yanez, the Dean of School of Business, University Santo Tomas (UST) in the VIP Hall.

The site of 2015 China-Chile Forum

With the theme “Opportunities and Challenges of China-Chile Economic Cooperation under the Background of ‘One Belt, One Road’”, the scholars of UST and our university discussed and explored in depth the bilateral trade and economic cooperation between China and Chile.

Opening remarks given by HE Chuantian

In the opening remarks, HE Chuantian pointed out that Chile is a key “One Belt One Road” strategic cooperative partner of China, and consequently, the trade and education exchange between China and Chile is growing in frequency. This forum not only enhanced the friendship and bilateral cooperation between China and Chile, but also provided an opportunity to strengthen the business economic contacts and cooperation between the two countries.

China and Chile have a profound friendship

Mr. Carlos J. Marin emphasized that, although Chile is the most distant country from China, there remains a common goal in cooperation and a close relation in economic trade and cultural education between the two countries. China is the largest trading partner of Chile. Both countries are making efforts to achieve the liberalization and facilitation of economy and trade, meanwhile to promote the cooperation to reach the reciprocity and mutual benefit in the Asia-Pacific region. At the end of his speech, by quoting Lao Tzu’s “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”, he expressed the confidence and expectation of the new route of cooperation between the people in the two counties.

Prof. Guillermo Yanez analyzed the trade relations between Chile and Asia

Prof. Guillermo Yanez quoted Newton’s law of universal gravitation to analyze the trade relations between Chile and some Asian countries, including China. From his perspective, the trade between Chile and Asia is far beyond gravity predictions, because of the fact that the trade cooperation between is quite lively and active in spite of the long distance. He also emphasized that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between China and Chile has made a significant difference in economics and trade.

Prof. ZHU Wenzhong proposed some relative strategic suggestions

Prof. ZHU Wenzhong presented a speech with the theme Business Ethical Challenges for China and Chile under the One Belt One Road Strategy. He analyzed the national ethical challenges, theoretical basis of ethical relativism, analytical framework and corporate social responsibility challenges in the globalization with the background “One Belt One Road”, and proposed some relative strategic suggestions.

Several Keynote Speeches

In order to show the similarities and differences between Chilean and Chinese companies related to international business, Professor Marcelo Taito Jara offered a discussion on the importance of social relationships and trust with the theme ‘Networking behind Business in China Challenges for Chile’. He pointed out that China and Chile can reach mutual benefit and long-term development by means of strengthening communication and establishing a trust network.

Prof. Alejandro Puente presented a speech themed Dynamic Binear Model of GDP Trend for Chile, describing the estimation of trend output and the output gap for Chile using a dynamic linear model (DLM). He concluded that the growth delay of Chile’s GDP accounts for the increasing income level and the reduction of speed of total factor productivity (TFP).

The speech with the theme “Managing for CSR and Business Sustainability: A Comparison between China and Chile” was given by Prof. HUANG Lei, who held the view that the management of both Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are context-based concepts that must be seriously considered in political, economic and cultural contexts. He indicated that, in terms of the management of the two aspects, China failed to realize the significance of social media, while Chile lacked relative guidance given by the government. Therefore, the enterprise of the two countries should learn from each other and pay attention to the business sustainability and CSR from a global perspective.

Prof. LI Yongning pointed out that a new trend of import will unfold in the years to come. According to LI, it is now the right time for China to start a new round of cooperation with countries such as Chile in Latin-America, and Guangdong as the leading province in manufacture and consumption in China is the best partner for Chile in the future economic cooperation.

Group Photo