Foreign Chambers of Commerce in China: Trends, Challenges and Policy Responses

Abstract As China opened up over the last thirty years and as huge numbers of foreign-invested enterprises flooded into China, foreign chambers of commerce, offering services to their members, have emerged and become increasingly influential. Foreign chambers of commerce have appeared mainly in China’s more economically prosperous regions and cities; their legal status varies; and they can be grouped into three types based on three general types of background. They also differ in terms of their internal governance and in terms of their members’ relations with the government and Party departments. Generally speaking, foreign chambers of commerce in China face certain institutional and administrative challenges. We must concentrate more attention on the development of foreign chambers of commerce in China. The principle of “one nation, one chamber” should be reformed and improved. We must re-establish integrated registration and filing systems for chambers, establish localized administration of chambers, and generally strengthen supervision and management of foreign chambers of commerce in China.