It is with deep sadness that the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (BCECC) announces the passing of our Honorary Vice President, Mr. Christian Morel, who passed away on 26 May 2025. Mr. Morel is a true pioneer of Belgian success in China. He traveled to China for the first time in 1977, right after the open-door policy of Deng Xiaoping, representing his company Bell Telephone from Antwerp. A few years later, this led to the setting up of Shanghai Bell, the 6th Sino-foreign joint venture in China and the first joint venture in telecommunications, now called Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell.
As one of the early visionaries to see the potential of China’s economic opening, he played a pivotal role in building bridges between our two countries’ business communities. Through his leadership at Alcatel Bell and his presence in key roles within Belgian-Chinese business networks, Mr. Morel helped shape decades of bilateral cooperation. His enduring contributions to Sino-Belgian relations have left a lasting legacy.
In a Belgian business magazine article of 2001, Mr. Morel was even called ‘the man of the Chinese billions’. For his contributions to Belgian-Chinese business, he has received many awards, such as honorary citizenship of Shanghai and Beijing and honorary vice-presidency of Shanghai Bell. The most important one, according to Mr. Morel, is the Friendship Award offered by Chinese prime minister Zhu Rongji in the People’s Hall in Beijing on 1 October 1998.
When asked about his most valuable accomplishments in an interview with BCECC in 2021, Mr. Morel mentioned the China Europe Management Center (CEMC), founded in the eighties together with the University of Leuven. Thanks to this initiative, more than 5000 Chinese students and young managers had the opportunity to travel to Belgium and study economic and management courses. Mr. Morel was impressed by the eagerness of the Chinese students to learn and develop their career.
Mr. Morel had great memories of working together with the Chinese. Despite the difficult circumstances in the seventies and eighties and the challenging communication with their Chinese counterparts, Mr. Morel stated: “During more than 25 years of cooperation, the Chinese have always been fair to us. Our main principle was ‘mutual benefit’. Many western companies only think about their own benefit, but that is not the way to do business in China. It’s important to build trust and focus on a long-term relationship. I believe in a cooperative structure in which the Chinese partner can gain the most when things go well, but also lose the most when things go bad. That is the best motivator to make sure your Chinese partner stays onboard and works hard.”
The Belgian Chinese Chamber of Commerce (BCECC) extends its heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.