A client yesterday emailed me an article he had saved since 2007 and in his email he remarked how “when it comes to dealing dealing with Chinese businesspeople nothing ever changes.” I am not so sure nothing changes, but I am sure that what this article describes about dealing with China has not changed much,
Recently, I was fortunate to attend a World Trade Center Utah event attended by Minister Jing Quan, the number three-ranking Chinese diplomat in the U.S. This was the first visit by a high-ranking Chinese official since the imposition of the “Trump tariffs”, after which a massive delegation of Chinese officials descended on Salt Lake City
The U.S. Treasury Secretary Suggests You “Friend-Shore” Your Supply Chain
Regular readers of this blog know that we have been strong advocates for “de-risking” supply chains, especially when they are overweighted with China manufacturing. We always note that we understand some companies cannot easily shift manufacturing and operations out of China, but those that can, should.
Chinese businesses typically want a simple, specific, concrete proposal to which they can respond. If the foreign side leaves the structure vague, the Chinese side will usually have nothing to say. In this situation, a deal that may be good for both sides never gets done because neither side can bring it to the point where the real bargain is negotiated. The Chinese side virtually always wants to show its cards last. If you do not show your cards first, there will be no cards back from the Chinese side.
A recent Twitter thread from Sari Arho Havrén hit home, as it so perfectly captured my own feelings. She tweeted: Sometimes I miss Hong Kong and Mainland China so much that it physically hurts. 30 years of my life has been tied to China. I have lived in four Chinese cities (incl HK twice). Strings run deep
Eons ago, a veteran China hand responded to one of our blog posts by writing me with his own story of China problems. I found his story both typical and fascinating and sought his permission to run it. He gave me permission and then I promptly lost it in the shuffle until now. This story
In the early 1980s the US Air Force commissioned Lucian Pye, an eminent sinologist, to write a report on how Chinese negotiate with foreigners. Published in 1982, it was called Chinese Commercial Negotiating Style. Based on extensive interviews with foreigners engaged in China trade, Pye’s paper analyzes the negotiating style the Chinese use with foreign businesspeople. Pye’s
By: David Alexander* When I landed in Ho Chi Minh City on March 1, 2016 it was 3AM and I was grateful the pre-arranged driver was there to collect me. I hadn’t planned on it taking four hours to fly from Shanghai. Like many, I assumed anything in SE Asia was just a short commute
A few weeks ago, in Hong Kong’s Saddest Day, we echoed legislator Tanya Chan’s sentiment after China’s rubber-stamp National People’s Congress announced it would enact national security legislation for the city. As sad as that fateful May 21 was, we warned “the days ahead could be much sadder” for Hong Kong. Unfortunately, that prediction has
China Joint Ventures With China’s economy in a downturn and so much uncertainty regarding the future of US/China and EU/China relations, our China business lawyers have lately been seeing an uptick in companies looking to do China joint ventures “to share in the risk.” When done right, China joint ventures do share risk. But when
