BEIJING // Businessmen and expatriates from 40 countries, including several in the Middle East, are being hit hard by new visa regulations issued by China ahead of next month's Olympic Games.
China says the new rules, which came into effect in April, are intended to protect against "hostile forces" hijacking the Games, a veiled reference to separatist Muslim Uighurs, the banned Falun Gong spiritual group and westerners protesting human rights abuses in Tibet.
But they are also causing confusion, as citizens of the 40 countries have been told they will no longer be able to renew their visas while in China, and must first return home.
Additionally, short-term China visas are proving difficult to get in neighbouring Hong Kong for any nationality, a move expected to have serious repercussions for those used to shuttling across the border between Hong Kong and their factories in southern China.
"Business people from Dubai visiting Hong Kong for a trade fair might meet Hong Kong or Chinese business people who then suggest a visit to the factory across the border in mainland China. Before, it was possible to arrange such visits because picking up a visa was easy. Now, that flexibility is gone," said Christopher Hammerbeck, executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
On the list are several countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq; as well countries in South Asia, such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and African nations.
The UAE is not on the list.
"There is a list of countries and people from these countries cannot renew their visas in China - they have to go home to do it. It is a big problem," said Aram Tahir, the 26-year-old manager of Mateen, an Iraqi air freight company which has just opened an office in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province - a city whose commodity markets are popular with Arab traders.
Mr Tahir said he was one of the lucky ones - he got his visa just before the restrictions came into force. "Now very few people are visiting - it's not the same as last year and it's because of the visa restrictions China has put on," said Said al Nagdi, 25, who runs Al Meida, a popular Arab restaurant in Yiwu.
Trade between China and the Arab world is expected to reach US$100 billion (Dh367bn) within two or three years, Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, said at the China-Arab Cooperation Forum in May this year.
But as well as hampering trade, the restrictions have left China's two major cities of Beijing and Shanghai feeling strangely empty in the run-up to the Olympics, due to begin on Aug 8.
Beijing had been forecast to receive more than $4bn in extra revenue thanks to an anticipated influx of 500,000 foreign visitors visiting the city for the Games. Instead hotels are slashing their rates by up to half as rooms remain unbooked, according to China's largest online travel service website, Crip.com.
Wei Wei, the director of China's foreign ministry consular department, told the state-run Xinhua News Agency last month that security was the top priority in preparations for the Olympics.
It has denied the visa restrictions are in any way different to other countries that have hosted the Olympics.
In April, China's public security ministry reported several failed plots to disrupt the Games, including poison gas and bomb attacks on hotels and government offices in Beijing and other cities, and kidnapping foreign athletes and spectators. China has attributed most of these plots to separatist Uighur Muslims in its western Xinjiang region.
But China is also anxious to avoid embarrassing protests on a range of issues by human rights groups during the Games.
Analysts said that the new visa regulations may be inconvenient for foreigners now, but in the end it will be Chinese businesses that suffer.
Paul French, the founder of the Shanghai-based market research company, Access Asia, said the restrictions, which come on top of rising transportation costs and new labour laws in China, might finally tip companies into moving operations out of China and closer to home.
"The fact is that many Chinese manufacturers have survived and absorbed energy costs, rising transport costs, high input and commodity costs, soaring freight costs, rising wage bills and new labour laws. But they may not be able to survive the actions of the Chinese visa issuing department."
* The National
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs: 2018 Jaguar F-Type Convertible
Price, base / as tested: Dh283,080 / Dh318,465
Engine: 2.0-litre inline four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 295hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 1,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.2L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
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India squad
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, K.L. Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.
SPECS
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: ten-speed
Power: 420bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: Dh325,125
On sale: Now
The%20specs
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
PRIMERA LIGA FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Saturday
Atletico Madrid v Sevilla (3pm)
Alaves v Real Madrid (6.15pm)
Malaga v Athletic Bilbao (8.30pm)
Girona v Barcelona (10.45pm)
Sunday
Espanyol v Deportivo la Coruna (2pm)
Getafe v Villarreal (6.15pm)
Eibar v Celta Vigo (8.30pm)
Las Palmas v Leganes (8.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Valencia (10.45pm)
Monday
Real Betis v Levante (11.pm)
Everybody%20Loves%20Touda
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
