Fleishman Hillard: The Political View

Fleishman Hillard senior strategist, and expatriate Canadian, Dan Baxter recently completed an assignment in FH’s Beijing office before moving on to Brussels. In a sort of valedictory, he offers very useful guidance in the online publication PublicAffairsAsia on how to be an effective public affairs advocate in China. While the Chinese government may seem opaque to Westerners, Dan shows us that there are some shared principals in dealing with political leaders the world over:

It is also important to understand that, like all governments, Chinese officials need reliable information by which to inform the policy-making process. Much of this can come from an individual’s own views and those of recognized stakeholders, but decision-makers also rely increasingly on blogs and social networks to measure the public ‘temperature’. Major policy initiatives, such as food safety, can be subject to lengthy public consultations. As with any other market, the specific mix of tools will be different for each situation.

We recommend reading the entire piece as it is a truly useful brief tutorial from someone who has actually “walked the talk.”