China agriculture

China’s Ban on U.S. Agricultural Products Grows

By Lucas Blaustein* U.S. agricultural exports to China have increased by 120% since 2008, to nearly 28.9 billion dollars in 2013 and agriculture now accounts for nearly 24% of US-China trade . Since China’s admittance to the World Trade Organization (WTO), China and the United States have increasingly traded their comparative advantages. Daily, Chinese made

China versus Russia for business

Why China is Better Than Russia for International Business

My friend Kent Kedl co-wrote an article for the Moscow Times today, entitled, Why Russia Is Just as Good as China, claiming  businesses should be just as interested in Russia as they are in China and that corruption in Russia is no better or worse than corruption in China: For some reason, investors find Russian corruption

China Company due diligence Research

China Fraud Season Starts Early This Year

In China Payment Fraud, we wrote how it has “become somewhat of a December tradition to write about China payment scams in December because history shows this is the biggest month for those. This year it seems China fraud season has started earlier than usual for those doing business with China and, near as I

Are you operating legally in China

Independent Contractors in China

Our China company formation lawyers spoke with a software company the other day with fifteen “independent contractors” in China they view as “part of the corporate family.” This company was looking to form a WFOE in China, but they said they were in no rush. The first thing we did was tell them that what

China VIE

China VIEs: Avoid, Avoid, Avoid

VIE stands for variable interest entity and they are entities used to allow a company in China to technically be a Chinese domestic company, but be de facto controlled by a foreign-owned entity or entities. VIE structures are usually used to allow foreign companies to get involved in various sectors of China’s economy forbidden to

Payment from China

How to Get Paid from China

Our China lawyers have seen a spike in queries from foreign companies not getting paid by private Chinese companies without affiliates or assets abroad. The Chinese company’s excuse for not paying is often “that the rules have recently changed so foreign payments are no longer possible.” Another one is that the Chinese company is simply

Negotiating with Chinese companies

Antidotes to Chinese Negotiating Tactics

We have been drafting an increasing number of contracts for foreign companies licensing their concept or technology for use in China. In the old days, this type of licensing was primarily in the industrial sector. These days, much of our work has involved licensing agreements for companies that want to capture China business without having

China scam fraud

Faked in China: Even the Universities Are Not Immune

Danwei ran a story, University Diploma Scandal in Jinan [link no longer exists], on a fake Chinese university. This story is directly relevant for those doing business in China. Let me explain. The story is from the Jinan Times. Jinan is the capital of Shandong Province. I have been there a couple of times and

International due diligence checklist

What you Need to Know to Sell Your Product into China

ABC News just did a video news story. on American Products Selling in China. Though it is the proverbial three minute puff piece, it is right in pointing out the huge opportunities to sell American products in China. It starts out noting how “the Chinese spent $104 billion in U.S. exports last year — up