2010-09-29 15:19

BEIJING - While Bill Gates and Warren Buffett host a closed-door charity banquet on Wednesday with China's super-rich in Beijing, they opened a dialogue on philanthropy between the East and West outside the ballroom.

Peter Buffett, son of the US billionaire investor, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua prior to the banquet, that his father hoped the "Chinese people will come to their own conclusions about the role of philanthropy in their culture."

"It isn't always just about money. It's also about speaking out on the issue to get others involved," said the famous music producer, who manages his own charity foundation.

The second generation of the US billionaire investor family has planned to share more of his ideas on charity with rich Chinese families and their second generations in his China trip in November.

He said his father chose to give his money to others to practice the work of philanthropy, because he feels that others may be better at distributing the money than he would.

"We both like to focus on the people we are serving. We will invest in them for long periods," he said.

Buffett and Gates succeeded in June in convincing 40 wealthy individuals and their families in the United States to hand over more than half of their fortunes to a charitable cause as part of "The Giving Pledge" project launched in June.

As they moved the campaign to China for the charity banquet in Beijing, some media used the meeting as a touchstone to test the philanthropist attitudes of Chinese billionaires.

To dismiss Chinese billionaires' worries, Gates and Buffett had to repeatedly clarify that they came to share their experiences and would not pressure people to give. The banquet host also kept the identities of the select group of guests confidential.

Chinese media reports speculated that except for a few outspoken wealthy Chinese, like Chen Guangbiao and real estate tycoon couple Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, who acknowledged attending the banquet, Niu Gensheng, founder of China's leading dairy producer, Mengniu, and real estate giant Wang Shi might also be among the guests.

Chinese billionaires have displayed different attitudes towards the call to give to charity by the US philanthropists, especially after Chen, known as China's most generous donor, pledged to donate 100 percent of his personal wealth to charity as his "gift" to support the commitment of Gates and Buffett.

Zong Qinghou, who topped the Forbes magazine list as the richest man in China's mainland, made it clear to the media that he did not appreciate "donation pledges of rich men's personal wealth."

"Donation is not charity. A true philanthropist should be able to continuously create social wealth," said the president of the Zhejiang Wahaha Group.

Guo Jinshu, a coal mine boss-turned-billionaire in north China's coal-rich city of Erdos, said it was not necessary for the Chinese wealthy to "copy the US charity mode."

"In China, an entrepreneur's top responsibility is to keep his own business sound, to fulfill taxation payments, and create jobs. This is also out of a philanthropist heart," said the man whose wealth is estimated at 50 billion yuan ($7.47 billion).

Guo gave a single donation of 16 million yuan as "holiday allowances" to 80,000 households living on the government's minimum living allowance prior to the Mid-Autumn (Full Moon) Festival last week.

Each of the families can receive 200 yuan from his donation for the traditional holiday, which features family reunions.

"As the Chinese economy is becoming larger in scale, Chinese business people would become more and more enthusiastic about the charity cause, regardless of their purposes and motives," he said. He suggested more foundations should be set up to help business people  distribute their charity money to the needy.

Generous donor Chen Guangbiao also called for more public tolerance and understanding of those wealthy who have shown interests in charity, as some media often questioned the sincerity of charitable donations by the rich.

A netizen who gave a name of "Probability and Time" left a post at the Chinese popular website hexun.com questioning Buffett. "Why he did not spare most of his wealth with his employees in charity? "

Einar Tangen, former chairman of the State of Wisconsin International Trade Council, who is currently working as chairman of I-MCF in Beijing, said in the United States some people participated in charity for tax reasons.

"Some people do charity for feeling great about themselves, and some others for really helping people," he said.

Li Shufu, chairman of China's largest privately run carmaker, Geely, was listed by this year's Hurun report as being the most generous and charitable person among business people in China's affluent Zhejiang Province, with his donations worth 250 million yuan.

However, he emphasized "philanthropy can not be judged by the donation figures."

"Everyone has a loving heart. Many of China's richest people also had their own rags-to-riches stories," said Zhang Yu, a businessman who became founder of the first charity website in Inner Mongolia in August this year.

He said the website spreads charity spirits, calling for individuals to do charity for the needy, no matter how much of a fortune they have.