European top businessman who was once inadvertently caught in the power struggle within the Chinese Communist Party has decided to leave China. Former Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in China and German businessman Joerg Wuttke will bid farewell to his second home and move to Washington DC to work for a consulting firm.
At the age of 65, Wuttke will join Dentons Global Advisors-Albright Stonebridge Group as a partner in a few months.
Having lived and worked in China for over thirty years, this German businessman has spent most of his professional career representing the European business community in China, openly criticizing Beijing’s commercial economic policies and practices. His outspokenness is rare among China experts and commentators and has earned him a reputation as one of the most influential foreign business leaders in China.
According to Bloomberg, top political leaders of the European Union and many CEOs of companies operating in China often seek advice from Wuttke.
Wuttke first arrived in China in 1988 and served as Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce for three terms, with his most recent term spanning from 2019 to 2023.
He will resign from his position as Chief Representative in Beijing for the German chemical giant BASF, a role he has held since 1997.
Wuttke is also a member of the Mercator Institute for China Studies Advisory Committee. The Berlin-based think tank was sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party in March 2021 as part of retaliatory measures following the European Union’s sanctions against China for human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
In a February 2024 interview with the South China Morning Post, Wuttke expressed that multinational companies still willing to invest in China, but factors such as worsening overcapacity in manufacturing, Beijing’s push for self-sufficiency, and lack of transparency in the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party have weakened China’s attractiveness.
He revealed that in April 2022, he wrote a confidential letter to the Chinese State Council detailing the harms of the “zero-COVID” policy to the Chinese economy and nation. The letter was inadvertently leaked, sparking a major discussion and putting him in the spotlight.
In 2022, Wuttke publicly called on the Chinese Communist Party to change its COVID-zero policy, warning that it would lead to decades of stagnation in China’s growth.
“As someone trying to influence policies and advocating for change that doesn’t have political bureau support, this is a very difficult time for me,” Wuttke said.
It is reported that the letter was sent to the then Chinese State Council Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, possibly becoming a key reason for his dismissal by Xi Jinping.
Once considered a potential successor, Hu Chunhua, after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, no longer served as a Vice Premier of the State Council or a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, completely isolating him from the core of Communist Party power.