The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham Shanghai) marked its 110th anniversary with a gala in Shanghai on Friday, celebrating over a century of U.S.-China business engagement.
Founded only three years after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AmCham Shanghai has been playing a key role in linking the world's two largest economies, despite the ups and downs in the history of China-U.S. relations.
Around 300 guests attended the anniversary gala, hoping to foster commerce, dialogue and mutual understanding between the two countries.
"AmCham was founded back in 1915 by 45 businesspeople from the United States who were working in Shanghai. And right now, we have more than 1,000 companies here in Shanghai, members of AmCham, and we have more than 3,000 individual members," said Jeffrey Lehman, chair of AmCham Shanghai.
Shanghai, a favored investment hub for international enterprises, has been uniquely positioned to help strengthen China-U.S. trade and economic ties.
From Coca-Cola, AIG, and Ford to 3M, Disney, and Tesla, these American brands have been gaining success in China.
"According to the statistics published by the U.S.-China Business Council last year, over 90 percent of U.S. companies in China are profitable. The annual output of the Tesla factory in Shanghai was about one million units in recent years," said Chen Jing, president of the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, while addressing the anniversary gala.
For both Chinese and U.S. businesses, Thursday's phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump sent positive signals.
"I think all of us were happy to learn about the phone call. We're looking forward to November 5th, to the CIIE, back in Shanghai. And we expect to have continued increases in participation by American companies and hopefully by lots of vendors," said Lehman.
AmCham Shanghai marks 110 years of US-China commerce, cooperation
