The Art of Perception by Robert Leaf

Author:Robert Leaf [Leaf, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857899590
Publisher: Atlantic Books Ltd

7 China

China has passed Japan to become the number two economic power in the world, and a number of leading economists have said that in all likelihood it will pass the United States sometime in the twenty-first century. I have dealt with the Chinese for more than forty years, beginning when I signed an agreement in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing – the first time the Chinese government had gotten into the PR business. Over this time, I got to know and understand the Chinese people very well. Nothing that they ever accomplish will be a surprise to me.

On 31 August 1984, on behalf of Burson–Marsteller, I signed an agreement with the New China News Agency, a government body, establishing a joint affiliate: China Global Public Relations – the first Chinese organization to operate a public relations business in the People’s Republic of China.

The agreement was for eight years. Hong Kong’s leading paper, the South China Morning Post, called the agreement ‘a major coup’ and quoted me as saying, ‘We could not have hoped for a better partner for our China activities.’

One thing that fascinated me was the difference between signing an agreement with the Chinese government and signing one with the Russian government. The Russians in that period feared that they might be taken advantage of in some way and reviewed every full stop and comma in legal documents in great detail. The Chinese, on the other hand, had a great confidence in themselves and their history and clearly felt they had nothing to fear from their new American business partners. The agreement went through without a change to the draft presented to them.

The New China News Agency engaged over 6,000 people and had twenty-nine branch offices in China, which gave us excellent positioning. To maximize our expanded China capabilities to present and potential clients in the US, we appointed Scott Seligman, who was based in Washington, as co-ordinator for Chinese affairs. Scott was fluent in Mandarin and had previously acted as director for development and government relations in the National Council for US-China Trade.

We knew that China would be a significant factor in Burson–Marsteller’s future growth. Considering its geographic position, size and population base, it was becoming an increasingly important market for our clients, and it was obvious that its importance would continue to expand in the future. It was also a two-way street. China not only wanted to become better known as a country to do business in, but their business and government leaders were seeking more and more knowledge about the West, from a political, social and economic point of view.

To build our relationship quickly, we started by immediately training three members of China Global in our Hong Kong office. They were quickly followed by five others. We also sent staff from our Hong Kong office to work on behalf of clients in Beijing. Within three years, China Global had grown to sixteen people.

The fast growing interest in public relations in China was

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