On March 26, 2025, CCBC hosted a thought-provoking discussion on China’s economic and political outlook for 2025 and its impact on Canada-China business relations. As global dynamics continue to evolve, understanding China’s shifting economic landscape and political trajectory remains essential for businesses and policymakers navigating the Canada-China relationship.

 

Moderated by Bijan Ahmadi, CCBC Executive Director and COO, with welcome remarks from Miles Pittman, Partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) and CCBC Board Director, the panel discussion featured three distinguished experts: Graham Shantz, President of CCBC; Chucheng FENG, Founding Partner of Hutong Research; and Ari Van Assche, Ph.D., Professor, Department of International Business, Co-Director of the International Institute for Economic Diplomacy, HEC Montréal, and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Business Policy.

 

The panel explored Beijing’s strategic approach to the Trump administration, its long-term economic and political direction, and the implications for Canadian businesses. As China finalizes its new five-year plan, the panelists provided insights into evolving policies, key geopolitical developments, and their direct impact on trade relations and investment opportunities in the year ahead. 

 

 

Tickets: CCBC Members: Free; Non-Members: $100 + tax

 

Address: Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, 1000 De La Gauchetière Street West, Suite 900, Montreal, Quebec

 

About the Speakers:

 

Ari Van Assche, Ph.D.
Professor in the Department of International Business, Co-Director of the International Institute for Economic Diplomacy
Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Business Policy

 

Ari Van Assche is a Professor of International Business and co-director of the International Institute of Economic Diplomacy at HEC Montréal. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Business Policy, Fellow-in-Residence at the CD Howe Institute, Fellow at CIRANO, and visiting professor at the University of Leeds. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and specializes in the organization of global value chains and their implication for public policy.

 

 

Bijan Ahmadi
Executive Director and COO
Canada China Business Council

 

Bijan Ahmadi serves as the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Canada China Business Council (CCBC), overseeing the operations and activities of the Council across its seven chapters in Canada and China.

 

Before joining CCBC, he co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy (IPD) from 2018 to 2024. IPD is a non-partisan think tank operating in Canada and the United States, dedicated to fostering constructive engagement and interest-based thinking in international affairs.

 

During his tenure at IPD, Mr. Ahmadi launched the organization’s Asia research program in 2020 and its flagship annual conference, the Indo-Pacific Strategy Forum (IPSF), in Ottawa in 2021. Today, IPSF is recognized as Canada’s premier conference on the country’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. He was also the co-editor of Canada-China Brief, a biweekly policy newsletter providing the latest developments and expert insights on political and economic relations between Ottawa and Beijing.

 

In his work on China, Mr. Ahmadi has advised large corporations and SMEs on navigating Canada-China trade, policy, and regulatory developments. He has also spearheaded the publication of numerous research reports on China and Canada-China relations and led Track 2 diplomacy initiatives in collaboration with Chinese and American research institutions.

 

Mr. Ahmadi holds a Master’s degree in Global Diplomacy from SOAS University of London and a Master of Applied Science from the University of Toronto. Before founding IPD, Mr. Ahmadi worked in strategy and management roles in the financial services and real estate sectors, where he honed his skills in organizational leadership and operational planning. He also served on the executive boards of several Canadian non-profits and NGOs, including the Toronto branch of the Canadian International Council.

 

 

Chucheng FENG
Founding Partner
Hutong Research

 

Chucheng FENG is the founding partner of Hutong Research, a boutique advisory firm focusing on deciphering China’s policy trajectory, dynamics, and their market impact. Before Hutong Research, Mr. Feng co-founded Plenum China Research, where he was a partner from 2019 to 2023, and Grisk Data, a Shanghai/DC-based alternative data vendor on geopolitics in 2018.

 

Prior to launching his own ventures, Mr. Feng helped build the political risk practice at the Hong Kong-based risk firm Blackpeak in 2017. Beforehand, he was an Asia analyst at Eurasia Group and conducted research at Asia Society Policy Institute under former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd. In these capacities, Mr. Feng advised sovereign wealth funds, the world’s most prestigious hedge funds and asset managers, as well as Fortune 500 companies on China-related topics.

 

Born in Beijing, Mr. Feng has studied, worked, and lived in Minnesota, California, New York, Washington DC, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. He travels frequently across continents for speaking engagements and in-person briefings.

 

Mr. Feng holds a Bachelor’s degree in political science and history from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master’s degree in political science from Columbia University.

 

Mr. Feng is a Forbes U30 Asia 2022 listee and a young leader at the Council for the United States and Italy. He gets regularly quoted by the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, and Caixin.

 

 

Miles Pittman
Partner, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG)
Board Director, Canada China Business Council

 

Miles Pittman has maintained a broad practice advising energy sector and sector-adjacent participants and project proponents for more than twenty-five years. He advises frequently on mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, and project structure and development.

 

He has led significant transactions in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors, and has advised on virtually all aspects of the Liquefied Natural Gas value chain. He has also played a lead role in significant debt financing and restructuring transactions both within Canada and internationally.

 

Mr. Pittman writes frequently about oil and gas law, and teaches the Oil and Gas Law and Oil and Gas Contracts courses at the University of Calgary Law School. He led the drafting committee for the Pre-Unitization Agreement for the Association of International Energy Negotiators, and was recently selected as a Global Elite Thought Leader in Energy (Oil and Gas) by Who’s Who Legal.

 

 

Graham Shantz
President
Canada China Business Council

 

Graham Shantz served for over 25 years in Canada’s public service providing advice to Canadian governments, mainly on management of Canada’s relations with Asia. He has lived and worked for over 12 years in Asia, half of that in China. In Ottawa, Mr. Shantz has worked in senior management positions in Global Affairs Canada, the Department of Finance and the Privy Council Office. In 2000-2001 he served as Canada’s lead negotiator for Foreign Investment Protection Agreements (FIPAs) and in 1996-1997 served as deputy chief negotiator for the Canadian team during China’s WTO accession talks. Over the past decades, Mr. Shantz has been involved in numerous major bilateral visits between Canadian and Chinese leaders.

 

Mr. Shantz has served on the Board of Directors of the Asia Pacific Foundation (2013-2016) and on the Board of Directors of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (2006-2009). He served as Canada’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain (2009-2012) and ended his career in the public service in senior management positions in Global Affairs Canada’s Asia Branch.

 

A Mandarin speaker, Mr. Shantz pursued his interest in China while studying economics at Goshen College in Indiana. He holds an M.A. in International Affairs from Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. He also pursued language and economics studies in China, including at Beijing University and Xiamen University, under the Canada-China Scholars’ Exchange Program.