London, UK - 25 July 2007, 09:11 GMT

Dear ATCA Colleagues

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

We are grateful to Andrew Leung, based in London, and a frequent visitor to China, for his submission to ATCA, "China joins the Capitalist Club -- What does the multi-billion Euro investment in Barclays mean for the coming tidal wave?"

Andrew Leung has over 40 years of experience in a variety of senior positions working closely with China, including Hong Kong, covering commerce, industry, finance, banking, transport, social welfare and diplomatic representation. He has addressed numerous local and international business and strategic fora, groups and organisations on China, including making regular television appearances. He has written many key commentaries on China for pre-eminent global networks such as ATCA. His audience includes finance and investment houses, institutional investors, large businesses, think tanks, senior officials and business executives as well as business schools. He was twice sponsored personally by the US Government on briefing visits to the United States, including a month-long visit to brief Chairmen and CEOs of multi-nationals on China, post-Tiananmen Square. He was sponsored by the Economist as a speaker at a China conference in Berlin with the German Foreign Affairs Institute. He was invited to brief personally the Duke of York and the Lord Mayor of London prior to their China visits. He writes:

Dear DK and Colleagues

Re: China joins the Capitalist Club -- What does the multi-billion Euro investment in Barclays mean?

The world sits up as China Development Bank (CDB) is buying a multi-billion Euro stake in Barclays, along with Singapore government's Temasek. This could see the CDB's stake rising from at least 3.1% to 8% to become by far the biggest shareholder in this major British bank. Learning from her previous US adventures, the Barclays deal, before being signed, was well ventilated with the highest level of the British government, including the Prime Minister. The deal would strengthen Barclays' current bid for the Dutch bank ABN-Amro.

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Morgan Stanley has estimated that such sovereign funds assets worldwide could swell to USD 12 trillion by 2015. It is not inconceivable that a substantial part of this tidal wave of global capital will come from China.

Best regards

Andrew K P Leung

Andrew Leung is on the Governing Council of King's College London; the Advisory Board of Nottingham University's China Policy Institute; and the Executive Committee of the 48 Group Club with historical and working links with the Chinese leadership. He leads the China Group of the Royal Society of Arts London Region and chairs the China Interest Group of the Institute of Directors' City Branch. He was Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Management at NIMBAS University, Utrecht, Holland (2006) and at China's Sun Yat-Sen and Lingnan Universities (2005-6) for their International MBA Programmes. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in June, 2002, and was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS) in the 2005 Hong Kong's Honours List. He has qualifications from the University of London, Cambridge University, The Law Society and Harvard Business School. He speaks Cantonese and Mandarin and practises Chinese calligraphy as well as fine art.