The meeting of the World Economic Forum in Tianjin – seems to have produced some results – or at least some rhetoric – for international companies worried about Chinese protectionism.
Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, was at pains to suggest that worries over China’s “indigenous innovation” policy – in particular the idea that its procurement policies would favour Chinese technology over that produced by foreign manufacturers – were overblown.
Mr Wen’s pledge, according to the WEF, sounded good:
“I wish to reiterate that all enterprises registered in China according to Chinese laws are Chinese enterprises and their products are made-in-China products . . . In government procurement, China gives equal treatment to products from foreign-invested enterprises and Chinese-invested enterprises alike.”
The official Chinese line is that the procurement fuss was all a misunderstanding created by three of its ministries issuing a consultation paper that was later withdrawn and did not have the full backing of the government.
Still, a pledge by the premier is one thing and the actions of China’s military, or its city governments, is another. China is hardly likely to drop “indigenous innovation” altogether as it wants to go up the value chain and not simply be the world’s assembly plant.
Mr Wen’s statement indicates that China wants to lower the temperature after some discontent among multinationals about the market environment there. It does not mean that everything will be easy for them from henceforth.
