tirsdag 28. september 2021

As China cracks down, foreign companies try to figure out where they fit in

Foreign companies are trying to hold on to lucrative opportunities in China, even if new regulations and the pandemic have made international operations harder. As these businesses watch a crackdown on domestic tech giants, the Chinese government has continued to promote the world’s second-largest economy as opening further to overseas capital.

In just the last few weeks, local authorities in the cities of Beijing and Shenzhen have followed those in Hainan — an entire island province that is becoming a free trade zone — in announcing new benefits for foreign capital in special development districts. Similar business-friendly policies have been rolled out in the past, with mixed results. “The main difference is it’s much more targeted than it was before,” said Adam Dunnett, secretary general at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.