Author Archive for homer

Doing business in China getting tougher for U.S. companies

Published on March 28, 2010 in News. 0 Comments

350010167772150storieslarge20090616chincc88384964From John Boudreau and Brandon Bailey in the San Jose Mercury News:

Just a few years ago, the mantra in Silicon Valley went like this: What’s your China strategy? A 2010 update could be: What’s your China headache?

China’s allure is stronger than ever. It remains a cheap place to manufacture goods, and its rapidly growing domestic market includes 400 million Internet users and 700 million mobile-phone subscribers, numbers unmatched anywhere else in the world. But a country already known for obstacles is becoming less welcoming to foreign businesses.

Google’s frayed relations with the Chinese government over intellectual property theft and censorship spotlight the growing discontent many Western companies are experiencing in the country. And American companies are certain to face even tougher conditions there if U.S.-China tensions continue to rise over issues such as China’s currency controls, which experts say boost China’s exports while limiting imports from the United States.

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China’s elections won’t be Western-style

Published on March 20, 2010 in News. 0 Comments

0013729e48090d0e57590cFrom Zhu Zhe in the China
Daily:

The latest revision to the country’s Electoral Law, which grants rural residents the same rights as their urban counterparts to elect deputies to people’s congresses but does not expand direct elections, shows China will adhere to its own mode of development instead of adopting Western-style elections, a top legislator has said.

“Different countries have different election rules and a socialist China won’t follow Western election campaigns,” Li Fei, deputy director of the legislative affairs commission under the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature, told China Daily following the adoption of the latest amendment to the Electoral Law last Sunday.

Li, who has been leading the revision, said some people want to expand direct elections, but the current priority is to perfect existing direct elections at county and township levels.

Whether in terms of justice or fairness, a society must pay more attention to “substantial democracy”, which in China means that there should be representatives from all areas, ethnic groups and walks of life, Li said.

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