Irene Eng The Kibbitzer

 is not ownership, wrote Alan Beattie (FT, 4/16/07) on Danone that the French drinks/dairy goods company regarded as a strategic national asset by Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s presidential favourite .. had sued its Chinese partner claiming it selling identical products to their jointly-produced versions on the side.  And the Chinese partner bit back, not only accused the Frenchies full of crass ignorance and arrogant imperialism, also said “The Chinese have stood up and the era of invasions by eight-country armies is long gone.”  Wow … so the healing process is progressing well that now they began to talk about the most humiliating event openly.  The first thought creeped into my mind when I read Jason’s statement about IDG (it was written few years ago and I didn’t read Beattie’s till today when Golfer was going through it) was the Boxer Rebellion.  Western media/corps accuse China doesn’t play by the rules, I somewhat disagree.  There is a huge distrust stemming from the past (i.e. the 8-nations - Boxer Rebellion  at turn of the 20th Century) and those rules were set by the same group of nations, you expect China to comply?  Fat chance!  It’s amusing to see how many experts or China hands misunderstand China.  Beattie is one of handful who’s picked up the right vib.  He also pointed out about DVD piratcy.  I think the respect for IPR is important, but without the education and ultimately the money, Chinese will not comply.  You just have to deal with it if you want that market.  How can you force some one to buy you US$20 per DVD when the majority’s monthly income hooves around only about US$200?  Have patient and give China some time to grow.  On the other hand, I’m not sure the Chinese partner’s anger or distrust toward the French is warranted.  If you wanted to be taken seriously and be esteemed, you have to act like a respectable gentleman.

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