Capitalism is coming to an end in China. On the China Law Blog, Dan Harris writes that Chinese businesses are trying to get short-term profits now because they don’t believe in the long run. Harris also writes that Chinese partners in joint manufacturing ventures with American companies are starting to ignore their American partners:
[O]ur China lawyers are dealing with an increasing number of situations where the Chinese side of a China joint venture has essentially taken over the joint venture and stops communicating with its foreign joint venture partner. Maybe these joint ventures are no longer even profitable, but our clients are entitled to determine this and if the joint venture should be shut down, our clients are also entitled to a share of the joint venture company’s existing assets. For how to prevent/mitigate such problems, check out this article on China joint ventures. It’s as though the Chinese side in these joint venture partnerships views it as their patriotic duty to kick their foreign partner to the curb.
The Chinese "New Economic Plan" is about to end, just as it's earlier incarnation was ended by Stalin in the 1928 Soviet Union. American capitalists lost their factories when Stalin nationalized them. They may simply never again hear from their Chinese partners, and when they ask for their share of the profits they will simply be ignored.
American companies who wanted to manufacture in China had to do so in joint ventures with Chinese partners. In general, their Chinese partners had 51% control of the joint venture and many of them proceeded to steal American technology while going into direct competition with the joint venture. Meanwhile, the American multinationals went along, as they didn't want to lose access to the huge and growing Chinese market. The award for not learning from others' experience goes to Boeing, who just finished manufacturing its first passenger jet in its new joint venture with a Chinese company.
p.s. American corporations are now building new factories in communist Vietnam!
Comment by M, 12/2/2019:
Boeing management has been messed up, ever since it moved their top brass out of Seattle, and into Chicago. The top brass a true believers in Globalism. What did Lenin say about Capitalists selling the communits the rope that they would use to hang the capitalits with.
Comment by Jesse, 12/3/2019:
A related action involves the new Chinese cyber "security" plans which essentially require western companies to hand over the entirety of their digital communications to the Chinese state with explicit authorization for the state to share what it learns with their competitors. See for instance https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15230/china-adopts-malicious-cybersecurity-rules.
[An] extensive argument for balanced trade, and a program to achieve balanced trade is presented in Trading Away Our Future, by Raymond Richman, Howard Richman and Jesse Richman. “A minimum standard for ensuring that trade does benefit all is that trade should be relatively in balance.” [Balanced Trade entry]
Journal of Economic Literature:
[Trading Away Our Future] Examines the costs and benefits of U.S. trade and tax policies. Discusses why trade deficits matter; root of the trade deficit; the “ostrich” and “eagles” attitudes; how to balance trade; taxation of capital gains; the real estate tax; the corporate income tax; solving the low savings problem; how to protect one’s assets; and a program for a strong America....
Atlantic Economic Journal:
In Trading Away Our Future Richman ... advocates the immediate adoption of a set of public policy proposal designed to reduce the trade deficit and increase domestic savings.... the set of public policy proposals is a wake-up call... [February 17, 2009 review by T.H. Cate]