Foreign Companies Chafe at China’s Restrictions

(New York Times – Keith Bradsher)

Foreign companies doing business in China are increasingly feeling as if the deck is stacked against them. China has filed more than a dozen trade cases to limit imports, imposed a series of “buy Chinese” measures and limited exports of some minerals to force multinationals to move factories to China.

Foreign executives in China find themselves increasingly at odds with Chinese officials over these measures, which Westerners view as protectionist and intended to give an edge to Chinese companies. Surveys by Western chambers of commerce of executives show growing disenchantment in the last year and a sense that doing business in China, never easy, is growing harder.

Arriving in Hong Kong on Sunday evening at the start of a nine-day trade mission to China, including stops in Shanghai and Beijing, the American commerce secretary, Gary Locke, said that his agenda for discussions with Chinese officials included Western companies’ difficulties in the Chinese market. “There are some policies of the Chinese government that many countries have raised concerns about, including the United States,” Mr. Locke said at a press conference at Hong Kong International Airport. Read more here.