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Comment by coliveira | Hacker News Reader

Many Americans believe that the meaning of China opening up their economy is that they can go there and dominate all industries they want. This may even be the case in some third-world countries, but China is way past the point that they need to bow to western countries. If you go to any other developed nation like France, Switzerland or Canada, you won't be able to do business as it pleases you, you need to follow the local political rules.

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> If you go to any other developed nation like France, Switzerland or Canada, you won't be able to do business as it pleases you, you need to follow the local political rules.

No, you will need to follow actual laws, as both France and Switzerland are very "rule of law" countries. This actually makes doing business there much easier, because the rules are clearly defined and the same for everyone.

In China, the rule book is ambiguous and anyways, enforcement is very selective (they will get you on something if they want to). A textbook example of a "rule by law" country.

And yet, every election cycle there will be candidates complaining that the regulations are too burdensome and killing entrepreneurship.

> because the rules are clearly defined and the same for everyone.

The rules are the same for citizens and non-citizens? There is a reason why the Immigration lawyer AMAs on this site are so popular.

> And yet, every election cycle there will be candidates complaining that the regulations are too burdensome and killing entrepreneurship.

So? The rules are still there and applied fairly consistently. Whether or not the rules should be changed is what democracy is all about.

> The rules are the same for citizens and non-citizens? There is a reason why the Immigration lawyer AMAs on this site are so popular.

You mean the rules are different because non citizens need visas and citizens do not? I guess you got me there, but I’m not sure what your point is.

The rules are clearly defined for entrepreneurs and investors: (usually) any foreigner can incorporate a company and that company being a „legal citizen“ is to be treated like all other legal citizens of a country, regardless of its owner’s nationality.

give me the man and i will find the crime

Just drink tea or baijiu with more people. And then, since Xi started the anti-corruption campaign, hope that they don't drink with the wrong people.

Never really worked well for foreigners, especially Americans who are subject to the FCPA.

True but the local political rules in these places are pretty predictable and don’t change drastically on edict. So, yes, follow the rules, but the rules applied to you are the rules applied to all.

Of course, France is an old country with very stablished rules, even more than the USA. It is normal that a new economy, like China, will have new rules more often than the US. This doesn't mean that they have an obligation to create laws to facilitate American business.

Why does everyone just assume all the businesses talked about in the article are American? Obviously some of them were not. It seemed that they were focusing more on foreigners.

China does not have rule of law, full stop. They have a constitution that guarantees freedom of press, religion, and speech, and it is completely meaningless because they do not have rule of law. What this means is that Baidu can make most of its money on medical scams and porn while any foreign company would immediately be prosecuted for any small transgression. Whatever rules China makes up, its just for convenience, if they want to get you, they'll find something.

No one is asking for favoritism, only level playing field. Of course people would also be okay with exceptions, so long they remain exceptions and not the rule.

Why do you deserve level playing field? The rules always favor locals. No foreigner can just come to the US to work or try to make a fortune from scratch. You need to bring something special: capital or knowledge/skills. Why do you expect China to be different? You need to give them what they want if you want to prosper there.

> No foreigner can just come to the US to work or try to make a fortune from scratch.

plenty of politicians love to tell everyone ad nauseam about someone who came to the US and "found the American Dream". America is the freest, most open society in the world. it's what makes us different from other countries. blah blah blah. you hear this kind of idealism all the time. some people would say it's a foundational, fundamental feature of America. (Others would not.)

does anyone say that in China?

> You need to bring something special: capital or knowledge/skills.

Unfortunately that is not really true. But it’s certainly a good idea!

The other thing to note when doing a compare and contrast is that China is a high savings country with no shortage of capital. Maybe in the very beginning of the reform and opening era they did but it hasn't been the case for over two decades. US on the other hand is the largest importer of capital in the world. So it can be expected that China with its thirsts for know-how and market access but not capital will behave very differently from the US, all else being equal. This is generally true for other East Asian countries as well.

Even an unlevel playing field would be fine — if it were stable and not subject to the arbitrary whims of the CCP. Predictability and consistency are paramount.

You only get to the level playing field when you join the Old Boys’ Network.

On the other hand, if you have a light complexion, you can easily get a well paying English tutoring job. It often pays higher than what an engineering grad would make!

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