January Member Briefing

In a career spanning 30 years, Ray has lived & worked in China for 20 of them and before Gleeds worked for ABB, Johnson Matthey and ICI. Ray sits on the Advisory Board of the University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus. Ray was co-author of the inaugural Position Paper on behalf of all four British Chambers in China and was part of the London outreach delegation presenting the Paper to the UK government and other stakeholders.

James graduated from University of Manchester in 2015 and began his career with the British Chamber in Shanghai as the Business Development Manager. James comes with a truly international perspective having worked in three different continents throughout his studies and has now lived in China for over 5 years. James has a vast amount of knowledge on how British business operates within the China market with an oversight of their operational challenges and the market access barriers.

James was made Executive Director in June 2019.

Each of the HMTCs will lead on export promotion, inward and outward investment, and trade policy overseas on behalf of the UK government. Their work will include developing and delivering a regional trade plan setting out DIT’s priorities in important global markets.

John was one of the 9 Trade Commissioners appointed by the British government to promote the UK in important global markets. As the head of the Department for International Trade in China, John is in charge of all bilateral trade issues and works closely with Her Majesty’s Ambassador in Beijing to promote UK trade and prosperity.

John has 25 years of experience working for the UK government, with more than half of that time spent in China including as HM Consul General in Shanghai (2015-19) and Minister Counsellor at the British Embassy (2012-15).

In his previous roles in China, John has led teams across China dealing with science and innovation, energy, climate change and health policy. As Consul General in Shanghai he was responsible for the trade and investment relationship across East China. In his most recent role as Deputy Trade Commissioner he was responsible for the advanced manufacturing, Tech, education, life sciences and healthcare sectors.

Outside of China, John was the speechwriter for three Foreign Secretaries and was the Deputy Consul General in Jerusalem. John graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Ancient and Modern History.

Chris Torrens is a Partner in Control Risks’ Greater China and North Asia region, based in Shanghai. Chris heads up the East China geomarket and is also responsible for growing the company’s outbound China business, advising both state-owned and private Chinese multinational companies operating globally. In these capacities he has consulted with multinational and Chinese corporations across various industries on risk and strategy issues, particularly in relation to geopolitical risk.

Chris was previously based in London as Partner responsible for the Global Risk Analysis practice for Europe and Africa, managing a 40-strong team responsible for all political, operational and security risk analysis undertaken across the region, via both online and consulting channels.

Chris is a regular media commentator on geopolitical and compliance risk issues, and has been interviewed by the BBC, CGTN, CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg. His articles have appeared in the Economist, People’s Daily, Financial Times and specialist publications. Chris’s book, Doing Business in China, was published by The Economist Group in 2010.

Based in Shanghai, Zhixing Zhang is responsible for delivering and developing Control Risks’ analytical products and consulting in the areas of geopolitical, political, security and operational risks pertaining to China and Northeast Asia.

Prior to joining Control Risks, Zhixing worked as a Senior Analyst for Stratfor, a U.S-based geopolitical risk consultancy, where she led Stratfor’s strategic analysis and forecast on China and Southeast Asia. Her areas of focus include China’s political development and foreign policy, the Belt and Road Initiative and Asia-Pacific maritime security.

Zhixing’s comments on China and East Asian geopolitical issues have appeared in CNBC, Forbes, Financial Times and other international media outlets and publications. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Peking University, and two master’s degrees in public policy from the University of Texas at Austin and Renmin University. Zhixing is fluent in Mandarin and English.