International Law

What Exactly Did You Expect?

By Stan

My question is not rhetorical, and it is addressed to foreign companies doing business in China. From the Wall Street Journal:

“Our members felt the regulatory climate has failed to keep pace with China’s growth, and there’s growing economic nationalism that’s of concern to us,” said Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, which represents about 1,300 companies operating in the country. “In general we have the feeling that the reform process has slowed down.”

I’m a strong free trader and critic of economic nationalism/protectionism, but I also understand the realities of economic development and the attractiveness of infant industry arguments and industrial policy. I’m therefore not surprised to see that as China’s economy matures, we are not seeing a linear progression when it comes to liberalization and reform. The pendulum swings back and forth subject to economic and political cycles, just as it does in other countries.

Isn’t all this rather obvious?

What does the West expect? Will a post-WTO China continue to reform in a steady fashion year after year until the law and business environment here look exactly like the EU or U.S.? Is that a reasonable assumption?

Full post as published by China Hearsay on September 11, 2008 (boomark / email).