China’s government still controls economy – Victor Shih

US businesses working in China are reluctant to criticizes Chinese government departments, like they would do in the US, and for good reason tells professor Victor Shih in The International Business Times. The chance of getting into trouble is always present.

“The Chinese government controls all the levers of the economy, from import and export licenses on up,” said Victor Shih, an assistant professor of politics at Northwestern University. “There are so many ways for the Chinese government to retaliate it is no surprise businesses are so reluctant to criticize it.”

For their part, the Chinese tend to view technology transfer as being fair trade for access to its growing manufacturing base and its potential as a consumer market of 1.3 billion people.

“The Chinese response is typically that multinationals have come to China because it has a huge market,” Northwestern’s Shih said. “The Chinese say that in doing so ‘you have implicitly signed up for technology transfer as the price of entry to that market.'”

More in the International Business Time on the question whether corporate America kowtows to China.

Professor Victor Shih is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.