Dr Alf poses the question that all UK Times 1000 to which Chief Executives should be applying their minds, especially those running international businesses and not trading with China or not trading enough.

A good start would be for them and their board members to actually start learning some Mandarin and for the export sales-force to be quadrupled in 5 years, along with a relentless focus on learning Mandarin using Pimsleur language training, which is the fastest way to learn.

Secondly, they (the CEOs) need to do some reading on their own time of things like the Art of War, Confucious, Lao Tzu, the Book of the Tao etc, visit China and learn some of its history to build understanding, albeit slowly, of the culture and the way they think and operate.

Thirdly, some detailed analysis of markets and gaps that Western companies can fill better than others local to China is in order.

Fourthly, instead of always appointing yet another “dead white male” in their boardrooms, they and the headhunters they use, need to think about more diverse boards and appointing very bright Chinese graduate trainees, who have studied international business both in China and in the West.

Fifthly, the Government, in the UK, needs to put Theresa May and her storm-troopers back in their boxes, and focus her whole attention on the troublesome elements within the non-indigenous community, including those who preach sedition, demand Caliphates and Sharia Law, plus those in other communities who engage in drug trafficking, people-smuggling, indentured slavery of agricultural workers, prostitution and organised crime.

Recent protests in Chinatown, in London, about heavy-handed tactics by the immigration authorities acting on her orders and with the tacit approval of Cameron are hardly justified at a time when George Osborne has been in China with his begging bowl seeking inward investment.

We, in the UK, urgently need to win hearts and minds and to do that we need to :

–Simplify the visa system and make it cheaper for Chinese tourists to come here and spend money

–Employ Mandarin speakers at our major international airports and create Mandarin signage

–Employ Mandarin speakers in shops as the French already do

–Take Chinese currency as shopkeepers in Edinburgh do

–Being more welcoming and embracing “joined up” thinking across Government Departments

John Gelmini

Linguistic maps of Mandarin in mainland China/Taiwan/Hainan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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