So You Want to Do Business in China

"Mr. Cai added that cultural barriers face people of Chinese origin who don't speak Chinese."

The moral of the story is use a Chinese intermediary who was sent to the West to study?

Pitfalls in China's progress -- What your business should know about China's headlong campaign for change

[. . . . ] Other pitfalls await those who don't do their homework, said Bob Kwauk, who runs the Beijing office of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, the only Canadian law firm left in China after seven others have folded operations since 1998. He practised law for many years in Calgary but came here because of the obvious opportunities for a Chinese-speaking lawyer with business contacts back home.

[. . . . ] "The mistake many people make is they don't understand the country or they get Chinese partners but don't undertake sufficient due diligence on these people," Mr. Kwauk said. [. . . . ]

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China breathes freer -- WTO rules have vastly improved China's environment, but the next step will require something in short supply: freedom Lawrence Solomon, Sept. 10, 05

In some cases, especially in the case of curbs on the automobile, the Chinese are ahead of the West. Shanghai runs a weekly auction in which owners of new private vehicles now bid some 45,000 yuan ($6,550) for the right to drive their car on Shanghai roads.

Only those who already have money would even have a chance.




Chinese government journalist defends Beijing's human rights record Stephen Thorne, Sept. 9, 05, CP / National Post

[. . . . ] "Do you think we should apply the same rules to manage the two families?" Hi asked. "According to the understanding of the Chinese (populace), it's not possible to use a rich man's standard to manage the poor man's house.

"The food, the living conditions, the discipline all must be very severe." [. . . . ]

Diane Francis: China, India in innovative power play Financial Post, Sept. 10, 05

[. . . . ] The mechanics are going to be worked out in coming months. Memorandums of understanding are to be signed between the two countries' biggest oil companies which will include the three Chinese monopolies -- Sinopec Corp., China National Petroleum Corp. and CNOOC -- and India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp., its foreign subsidiary ONCG Videsh, Oil India Ltd., Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. The combined financial firepower is enormous, and way beyond the "mere" US$18-billion bid for Unocal Corp. that was rejected due to American protectionism.
Most of the Indian corporations are privately held unlike the Chinese ones, which are partially privatized but controlled by Beijing.

[. . . . ] (Talisman made a huge profit on the sale but it underscored the fact that state-owned oil entities have huge competitive advantages over private-sector ones because they enjoy sovereign immunity from pesky U.S. courts and other lawsuits as well as subsidies in order to overpay if necessary for assets.) [. . . . ]

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Diane has visited Mongolia and undoubtedly has much knowledge of what is happening in China -- worth linking. Note the advantage a state-owned/state-controlled company--even if nominally privatized--has in China and internationally. Beware.

Correction:
Previously I had written that I thought a Chinese company had acquired Talisman's assets but I was wrong, according to this article. It was an Indian company

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