George Fu

Anative of Shanghai, the largest city in China at nearly 27 million people, attorney George Fu began his legal career in the judicial realm after studying abroad in the United States and the former Soviet Union.

His worldly experience in those countries has been instrumental to his success as an intellectual property lawyer and senior founding partner with Watson & Band Law Offices in Shanghai, a coastal city that is the global commercial hub for the most populous country in the world.

The firm, which Fu helped form in 1995 with two other attorneys, now boasts 13 offices in Mainland China, along with a few satellite offices. The firm’s dramatic growth over the past three decades has coincided with the surge in foreign economic activity in China, according to the 68-year-old Fu.

Fu, whose practice focuses on all aspects of IP law as well as arbitration and litigation matters, said his firm’s decision to join Primerus several years ago was prompted by a desire to expand and strengthen its global network of legal contacts principally for the benefit of the Chinese companies it represents.

“We represent a number of companies who do business abroad and we wanted the ability to refer them to law firms worldwide,” Fu explained, adding that “we had to make ourselves ready” when asked to provide legal contacts on a global basis.

His involvement has included opportunities to attend the 2022 Primerus International Summit in Washington, D.C. and two Annual Meetings of the Association of Corporate Counsel, one of which took place in Las Vegas in 2022 followed by the 2023 program in San Antonio last October. On a professional level, Fu viewed the three meetings as “opportunities for engagement” that he found interesting and enriching.

Common business interests, he said, can serve as the glue that keeps Western countries and China bound together even when political interests diverge. To quell tensions on that front, Fu believes that there must be a general acceptance of each other’s differences to promote positive relations and constructive engagement.

“The Chinese political system is different than the U.S.,” Fu said matter-of-factly. “That’s the reality and I make no comment on what is good and what is bad, just that they are different. China is a Communist Party dominated government. . . You cannot separate the (Communist) Party from the people itself. They are just one entity. There is no veil to pierce . . . That is the reality,” he said, noting that it would be counter-productive for either country to insist on systemic change.

Relatedly, Fu is of the belief that improved relations also hinge on a better overall understanding of Western and Chinese cultures.

“The core culture in the United States and Western countries is very much an individual-driven society,” said Fu. “In China, the culture is more like a familydriven society. The cultures make it different. Is freedom important? Yes. Are human rights important? Yes. But at this point, the average person in China places more importance on their family and their job . . . The pursuits are different . . . and the mindsets are different between our two cultures.”

Aside from time spent on his studies in the U.S., Fu also has family ties to the American West Coast where his daughter is a doctor in Portland, Oregon.

Fu and his wife, a retired teacher, met during college and celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in 2023. They do their best each year to periodically visit their daughter and two grandchildren (ages 4 and 2) in the U.S., trips that bring “great joy into our lives,” said Fu.

He and several of his legal colleagues recently spent nearly a month traveling abroad, meeting with clients in various cities in the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, and other European Union countries. It was an exhausting trip, he admitted, but it also served as a reminder of the importance that individual business relationships can have in creating improved international relations.

“You cannot avoid competition,” Fu said of the sometimes-tense relations between China and Western countries, particularly in the technology industry. “But we still need cooperation and collaboration to deal with climate issues, environmental issues. We should work together on these matters.”

Recent evidence of the fruits that come from a cooperative approach occurred when Chinese officials announced efforts to curb the harmful effects of plastic waste by encouraging the production of bamboo-related items and packages instead, Fu said, noting a twofold benefit.

“The Chinese Central Government is in the process of adopting a policy that is more pro-environment, abandoning the plastic stuff while encouraging the use of bamboo materials,” Fu indicated. “The policy will be more environmentally friendly and also will economically help in remote, under-developed areas where there is a lot of bamboo.

“China and the United States can have a lot of collaboration in this effort, which will be good for both countries,” Fu declared.