“How to engage Chinese companies in EITI”, 21 Jun 2013

Stressing the importance of engaging Chinese companies with the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), Dr Guo notes the changing social and political context in China – the government is now more open than before and seeks to improve its international image. It now pays more attention to environmental and transparency issues and has allowed civil society to rapidly grow. At the same time, the private sector has grown tremendously while state-owned enterprises in some sectors have left the spotlight and instead focused on seeking out global investors.

The article outlines three key recommendations for EITI:

1. Demonstrating the benefits of increased involvement with EITI, including the reduction of market risks and compliance costs. Through participation in EITI, companies involved in merger and acquisition activities can create a positive corporate image and alleviate the social concerns of citizens in host countries.
2. Localising all communications related to EITI, so that Chinese companies can better understand them. This also involves public advocacy activities and collaboration with national universities in order to draw interest across different stakeholder groups.
3. Making dialogue with the Chinese government through engagement with a wide range of government bodies, following the example of UN Global Compact’s entry into China. The private sector would be more ready to adopt EITI if it were recognised by the state.