> What? China has numerous barriers to being "open for business", from requiring partnerships with local entities to even operate in the country to forced IP sharing to quotas on imports, and has been increasing those restrictions under Xi, not loosening them.
Yes, and you're free to buy as much of their stuff as you want, single piece through Aliexpress at prices your local store can't even match including delivery, by the box, container or trainload.
> Your statement is so inaccurate that I suspect you're pushing some agenda.
Hilarious. And pray what agenda do I have?
FFS I've been on HN for almost a decade, are you seriously suggesting I made this account so that I could push some silly talking point or that I have a stake in the outcome other than that I'm a citizen of a European country that sees more and more of its manufacturing capacity moved to the far East?
I have no idea what your motivations are, I just know that what you wrote is nonsensical on its face, "European country" or no, which makes me wonder what's going on. China is notoriously difficult for foreign businesses to operate in, European or American, due not only to the restrictions I mentioned above but the opaque and arbitrary control of the government.
The idea that anyone would call this environment "open for business" is simply laughable and shows a total ignorance on the topic.
The idea that there isn't a huge amount of business being done in China right is laughable and shows total ignorance on the topic.
The flow of containers from China is a pretty good indicator of the state of the world economy.
Yes it is hard to do business in China, and as a foreign company to sell into their market without a 'partner' (I use the term lightly). How clever of the Chinese to both guarantee themselves a cut and to get a continuous eye in the kitchen of all those Western companies that can't wait to fall over each other to send their precious IP to China where manufacturing takes place.
Open for business doesn't mean you get to dictate the terms, the USA can do that on its own turf and can limit its companies to do business with the Chinese. But the reverse isn't true, the Chinese will try to import as much as they need in order to keep their economy rolling along and in the meantime they will export the added value of one of the largest (and soon one of the most skilled, give it another 20 years or so) labor forces in the world.
To deny these facts is Ostrich politics at its best, the only parties that were really inconvenienced by this act are the domestic companies that see a chunk of their exports evaporate.
The opaque and arbitrary control of the government isn't all that different from the way lots of other places in the world still work. But contrary to most of those other places China is in an excellent position to become a very large economical threat to the United States and Western Europe, if it isn't already past that time.
