Zailiang Tang
How do business people in the West typically see China?
Well, let me say first that I am fascinated by the tension that arises from the way both sides see each other. This discussion is taking place not only in the Western media but increasingly in the Chinese media, too.
But let's start with the West's view. For the past 20 years, China has been seen as a massive potential market and as the "workbench of the world", providing gigantic opportunities for cheap production of everything from cameras to laptops. As a result, China is the largest receiver of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world - more than $50 billion in each of the past three years.
Learn more about how the Chinese view the west in Business Spotlight 3/2006!Learn more about our suscription offers here:
But although Westerners are pleased to buy good products at low prices from China, at the same time they are worried about China getting too powerful and threatening jobs in the West. There is also a general feeling that the Chinese don't respect Western rules. For example, it is often said that they ignore laws on intellectual property. And more and more people in the West are starting to wonder how much profit their joint venture (JV) companies in China are really making. So the old clichés of the self-deprecating Chinese are being replaced by images of self-confident, aggressive business people. And it's true that, in the past few years, there have been cases of Chinese companies taking over Western firms - for example, the takeovers of Schneider by TCL, Fairchild Dornier by DeLong, the IBM PC business by Lenovo and Alcatel Mobile by TCL.
How do business people in the West typically see China?
Well, let me say first that I am fascinated by the tension that arises from the way both sides see each other. This discussion is taking place not only in the Western media but increasingly in the Chinese media, too.
But let's start with the West's view. For the past 20 years, China has been seen as a massive potential market and as the "workbench of the world", providing gigantic opportunities for cheap production of everything from cameras to laptops. As a result, China is the largest receiver of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world - more than $50 billion in each of the past three years.
Learn more about how the Chinese view the west in Business Spotlight 3/2006!Learn more about our suscription offers here:
But although Westerners are pleased to buy good products at low prices from China, at the same time they are worried about China getting too powerful and threatening jobs in the West. There is also a general feeling that the Chinese don't respect Western rules. For example, it is often said that they ignore laws on intellectual property. And more and more people in the West are starting to wonder how much profit their joint venture (JV) companies in China are really making. So the old clichés of the self-deprecating Chinese are being replaced by images of self-confident, aggressive business people. And it's true that, in the past few years, there have been cases of Chinese companies taking over Western firms - for example, the takeovers of Schneider by TCL, Fairchild Dornier by DeLong, the IBM PC business by Lenovo and Alcatel Mobile by TCL.
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