Equality and Mutual Benefit: Talking Business, Both Ways

Chinese negotiating attitudes and styles tend to follow a certain pattern; they are not of course an exact science, and comment on the subject can only be opinion, based on experience or observation. The Western stance when talking business in China tends to be reactive; it is usually the Chinese who set the pace and the tone. It is obviously easier to deal in some fields than in others and another truism may be summarized as the more delicate the subject the harder the going. Yet it is not always so, and business negotiations in China can be full of surprises. However, as a general principle a fairly recent statement by a senior official in the State Education Commission usually holds good. Speaking privately, he said, ‘For business it is the green light. For politics and education is it the red light’, which summarizes official Chinese willingness to accept foreign business and technology but not necessarily foreign ideas. Indeed you could say it is easier to set up a factory than to publish a book, although this too, like everything else in China, is changing. Like most other undertakings in this country everything takes longer, and consequently costs more, than your original estimate. Indeed, there is one rule of thumb which almost invariably holds good. As pointed out earlier, any estimate of the time and commitment involved should be doubled.