Summarization of the Media Talking with all Sincerity |
| http://www.sina.com.cn 2005/06/29 10:52 |
Time: 13:30 – 14:30, 05/06/04
Venue: Meeting Hall, Alxa Moon Lake Hotel
Attendees: Elected President, Vice President, Leading Supervisor, General Secretary, reporters of media
Reporter from Sina.Com:
There was an intensive initiative meeting last night. The original constitution stated that sandstorm control should not be restricted within Alxa. But situation has changed after amendments were made. What’s your view on this?
Liu XiaoGuang (President, General Manager of Beijing Capital Group):
Our original plan hasn’t changed. Firstly the plan to harness sandstorms hasn’t been altered. We planned to only harness Alxa first and wait a few years until moving on to other things according to the conditions then. Secondly, sandstorm control is a comprehensive problem. It’s closely related to water resources, planting, reemployment and so on. It’s quite systematic. Another question is whether we should use green GDP as a production target. It will be a problem if we only use normal GDP.
Reporter from Sina.Com:
Will Beijing Capital Group give greater input?
Liu XiaoGuang:
Every enterprise is equal. Beijing Capital Group will exploit its comparative advantages such as our international contacts. We’ll do more in the area of communication. Every enterprise should make use of their advantages.
Zhang ShuXin (Vice President, Board Chairman of Genesis Capital):
We are the entrepreneurs’ spontaneous colonies and we wish to create a marketing structure to harness sandstorms. This is different from the situation of which the government is in charge, and it’ll be more effective. We entrepreneurs have the capability of marketing. Our Association has just been established today and we really hope our expert group can do a good job in the future.
Reporter from China Business Newspaper:
We are concerned with the future situation. How well will the Association perform? How would you arrange the Funds? Will you take the measure of Trust or project?
Liu XiangGuang:
We are heading for two directions in the future. Firstly, the donation made by entrepreneurs will only be a small fraction and it’ll be mainly used in developing software, planning of the project and founding of organizations. This is long term. Funds will continuously be injected in the next ten years. The emphasis will be what we’ll do next. For example, how to better cooperate with international organizations. Regarding the operation of funds, on one hand, some funds will be injected when the experts demonstrate an actual project; the rest of the funds will be left unused until the most capable wins the bidding, just like the social security funds. After all these money will be put back into the market which creates a healthy circulation.
Reporter from Magazine of Civilization:
SEE is a non-profit association, but the operations of your enterprises were all profit-oriented. How do you feel about this change? What are the Taiwanese colleagues’ opinions on Chinese entrepreneurs and what do they think of the impacts exerted by this action on the public welfare cause and social development of China?
Zhang ShuXin:
I think that every enterprise and every individual have social responsibilities toward our nature. This is the natural responsibility of human beings. Secondly, we entrepreneurs have done a lot for the society and we’ve made noticeable economic gains. But we should now have a clearer understanding of social responsibility after the reform. There were little undertakings like what we are doing now in earlier years and we hope that it can be promoted forward from this point.
Ma WeiHua (Leading Supervisor, Head of the China Merchants Bank):
My first reaction when I received the initiative letter sent by XiaoGuang was that it was worth doing. Why? Every enterprise feels the same no matter how we express it. The development of our business cannot be realized without the support of the society. A responsible entrepreneur should know how to repay the society. I feel that Chinese entrepreneurs are growing mature now as they know more and more clearly of what the society has given them and they’ll not reject any opportunity to make repayments. We felt the unprecedented happiness last night.
Liu XiaoGuang:
I joined this Association for four reasons. Firstly, I was shocked when I went to the border of NingXia and saw the barren and the desert. It seemed as if in Afghanistan. Secondly, it was because of my sense of responsibility. We entrepreneurs used to be very poor. Now since we’ve become rich and our businesses are growing, we should actively participate in the work of environmental protection, for the mankind and ourselves. Thirdly, we have the conditions to undertake this project. Many friends such as Wang Shi have this mutual agreement that we are able to call out everybody to participate. Fourthly, I think this is substantiation to our spiritual life. What happens when a person grows rich? Spiritual life matters more than materials. Moreover, we’re longing for a balance between human and nature.
Lin RongQiang (Supervisor, Board Chairman of TsingHua TongFang Environment Co. Ltd):
Almost one century ago, an entrepreneur in ZheJiang who used to be a feudal landlord established a Fund within his enterprise. He wrote these words: We have to repay what we have gained from the society whenever possible. That was the awareness of former generations. I agree with Wang Shi. We make the biggest contributions to the society when we seek the highest gains. This is where the invisible hand lies. From the 1970th to 1980th, I spent 13 years harnessing sandstorm in the Inner Mongol. But we didn’t have good technology to achieve any results. Therefore we should have an expert group this time, because science is important.
Zhang ShuXin:
Everyone participated in the open discussion last night. We founded the Association and established the system. We hope that this undertaking has long-term effectiveness. We are only initiators. The effectiveness will probably be realized after a few decades. This is a task of all mankind, not only our generation.
Wang Shi (Vice President, Board Chairman of China Vanke Co. Ltd):
I’m touched by everything that happened last night. I’m glad that we have this form of organization and the atmosphere of democracy. This is a very meaningful action that we entrepreneurs undertake since the reform and opening. Sandstorm control is a carrier. Our initiators and president all wish to make this action worthwhile and provide effective supervision throughout. These were the weakest areas since reform and opening. I think sandstorm control as such is less important than the democratic spirit we showed. This will exert positive impact on the development of the society. Therefore, we can’t say that we don’t dare to face failure. We cannot care too much about the result but rather pay more attention to our personal transformation during this process. Therefore, all entrepreneurs here are very excited. They think this action is a breakthrough and a great invention. It makes me feel so happy when the returnees from overseas and our native Chinese can work together.
Han JiaHuan (Vice President, Board Chairman of DaChan Group):
I’ve always been emotionally shocked by the conversations I had with the entrepreneurs over these two days. My heart was full of love for our nation when we drove to Mountain of Helan and saw the desert. I was afraid that we could not reach such a conclusion today but we’ve done it. It’s all because of our team spirit. This is great.
Han WenNing Gao (Vice President, Board Chairman of Yaoheng Consultancy, Singapore):
Three points: first, this is an action taken by all Chinese. There’s no difference between Taiwan and the mainland. Secondly, many people think that everything should be led by the government and almost all previous social activities were initiated or organized by the government. But as our economy develops, we need our people to care about our environment and pay attention to the conditions of the society. Lastly, I had contacts with a lot of social charity organizations when I was in the US and I’ll devote my experience and thoughts to helping XiaoGuang and ShuXin to play a greater role in the area of international cooperation. I’ll try best to negotiate with more international charity organizations and encourage them to join us.
Reporter from Sina.Com:
Mr. Liu, what do you think of the almost uncontrollable situation last night?
Liu XiaoGuang:
I couldn’t fall asleep last night. I felt the big challenge to my decisive power since the lists of candidates and organizations I drafted have all been overthrown. But I do feel excited as well.
There are four main points for a Fund to be long lasting. Firstly there has to be a positive target to ensure the vitality of the organization. Secondly there has to be rules and regulations. Thirdly, scientific demonstration is also crucial. Fourthly, there needs to be a responsibility system for the project. As long as we have the above conditions and make sure that no one can secure any personal financial gains, our organization will be regulated and internationalized, and will follow the rule of the market. We must strictly adhere to democracy and science. Moreover, public trust and social circle of influence are also important. I believe that our organization is vigorous.
Ma WeiHua:
We have different opinions, which, as such, represent democracy. We should hold a correct and scientific attitude. I believe that discussion and argument very well represent our vitality.
Reporter from Sina.Com:
Are you doing this in your own name or on behalf of the company?
Ma WeiHua:
This is a combination of individual and company. Company is our back support. The company stays there when we retire. Our responsibility is to transform our own thoughts to the comprehensive actions of the whole company.
Reporter from “The South Wind Window”:
Do you have any strategic plans other than pure spiritual needs when you make this investment?
Wang Shi:
Please don’t ask too much about whether we’ll continue to develop and how well will we perform because this is meaningless. If you were here you’d know that our meeting was open for discussion. This money is used to encourage more participation and it won’t be a burden to our company’s operation.
Zhang ShuXin:
I studied the course of chemistry and I know that the original structure of a crystal decides the final shape of it. It’s a matter of DNA actually. As initiators, we are the designers of DNA and if appropriate, it’ll generate good results in 50 years or so. The purpose of our initiation now is to develop a sustainable structure of the organization.
Reporter from Economic Watch:
There’s over-commercialization nowadays. Do you feel that the role you are playing has been over-exaggerated this time? Is this environmental protection undertaking a transfer of your unfinished goals? Lastly I really want to know what was the first time you thought about environmental protection? The number of attendants here amazes me today. How many of you are personal friends? How many of you are following your friends blindly?
XiaoGuang Liu:
I’m not sure how many of us have real sense of environmental protection. I admit that I dragged some friends to come for positive reasons. But they did feel that they’d made the right decision once they arrived here. Secondly, we’re not doing this for publicity at all. We had almost no propaganda at all prior to the meeting and we kept low-key on Sina.Com. All we want is to do something good. You mentioned if we are shifting energies from other targets that were unable to accomplish, I admit that this is partially true for me.
Zhang ShuXin:
Actually someone said to me when we were passing the Mountain of Helan, ‘there’ll be no sandstorms in Beijing if the sand climbs over Mountain of Helan. I was deeply touched. We want to establish a systematic structure for our future generations to follow.
Reporter:
How will the expert group work in the future?
Liu XiaoGuang:
Firstly, our expert group has been founded and more experts will join in future; secondly, our expert group will come up with a plan on how to harness sandstorms in Alxa; lastly, the expert group will play an important role in our work because our projects need their professional opinions and judgment. We will not do anything without scientific advice.
