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When The Chinese Government Talks You Should Listen.

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

One of the misconceptions foreign businesses often have about China is that their providing China with a few hundred jobs means they wield real influence. They start to believe that because some local government official has been solicitous, that they are somehow protected from all the bad things they read about that happens to other foreign companies in China. For so many reasons, this is just not true. One of those reasons is economic prosperity is not the be all end all of the Chinese government. Yes, China sees the gloriousness in being rich, but that is absolutely not the government's highest priority. Its highest priority is to stay in power and maintain the status quo. China Digital Times just translated an article quoting China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dai Bingguo:

To ensure the US-China relationship develops forward in a stable, healthy and long-term way, it is very important to mutually understand, respect and support the other side, and defend our own core interests.? Dai Bingguo continues on to say that China?s number one core interest is to maintain its fundamental system and state security; next is state sovereignty and territorial integrity; and third is the continued stable development of the economy and society.

This is the way it is and so the next time you are wondering why China is not letting you do something that you know would help bring wealth to China, ask yourself how what you are trying to do ranks within China's core interests.

Full post as published by China Law Blog on August 08, 2009 (boomark / email).