Comments on: Oct 20 Speaker: David Tang

By: Bree Saimons

Bree Saimons — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:48:02 +0000

I truly enjoyed your presentation last week David! I wanted to hear your thoughts on whether most Chinese citizens favor a trend toward westernizing the way business is done in China, or whether they supported fostering a uniquely Chinese system? Do most mainstream Chinese people support and agree with the way that their government conducts trade with the West as well as with other Asian countries? Thank you!

By: mario gandara

mario gandara — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:29:51 +0000

Tang covered many misconceptions about foreign investment in China

The US has a unpopular perception on investing in china. (61% believe that it hurts our economy whle 55% believe that it is a threat)

However, the US economy is 5x larger than china’s

US export growth is highest in China

China’s bank lending is much higher at 72% compared to the US’s at 19%

China does place restrictions on certain investments
WFOE are more attractive than JV’s

Legal
China looks to Europe for legal guidlines and there is no at will employment in china.

By: Lauren Hemingway

Lauren Hemingway — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:51:16 +0000

Thank you David for coming to our class on Monday. I was particularly fascinated by the statistics about how skewed U.S. perceptions of China are in contrast to the truth about U.S.-China trade. I was suprised to learn how untrue those perceptions were.

How do you think that disconnect happened and why? Do you think it would serve the Chinese government, Chinese businesses, or even U.S. companies doing business in China to try to correct some of those perceptions?

Classmates, any thoughts about why or how this has happened and what should be done about it?

By: Yue Zhang

Yue Zhang — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:28:07 +0000

thanks David, your speech is really impressive. One question: with the China’s more fit into a global market, do you think Chinese are more approaching the way that Westerns (especially Americans )are doing business or they still keep their own ways, instead, Westerns are trying to accomodate local cultural in order to get market access?

By: Jonathan Hill

Jonathan Hill — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:31:28 +0000

I really enjoyed your presentation on Monday, thank you. I was hoping that you could comment on the WTO and China. How long does a complaint normally take to work its way through the system? Are there international courts for this? Or more of an executive tribunal? Who are the judges, and the lawyers? Any insights on these questions would be great to hear.

If anyone is interested in learning more about China and the WTO, check out the organization’s China membership page:

http://www.wto.int/english/theWTO_e/countries_e/china_e.htm

By: Michelle Yang

Michelle Yang — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:30:51 +0000

Thank you so much for a wonderful presentation. Do you see China’s policies differing for businesses that come from different countries? For example, US versus Germany versus South Korea? Do you think all foreign business receive equal treatment?

Thank you again for a great talk.

By: Sarah Arkoosh

Sarah Arkoosh — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:10:30 +0000

Mr. Tang, thank you for a thought-provoking session! Your slides emphasizing issues of scale in comparing the United States to China were a great way to provide perspective.

A couple follow-up questions… First, I believe you mentioned that you worked with the Gates Foundation to get them clearance for work in China, and I’d love to hear a bit more about that experience. Second, what is your sense of the opinion in China about the current financial crisis in the United States and what lessons can the Chinese financial industry learn to avoid the same situation? Thanks!

By: Vasudha Swaminathan

Vasudha Swaminathan — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:10:05 +0000

Firstly, thank you David, for sharing your thoughts with us, inspite of a, am sure, hectic schedule. Your revelation of the US trade deficit composition, definitely raised quite a few eyebrows!

I was curious to know which areas of the law, in China, are strikingly different from the ones in the US, primarily because of the cultural differences. Is there any particular one that really stands out and would probably surprise someone who isn’t from the area?

By: John Gillilan

John Gillilan — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:28:06 +0000

How do the actions of the ECB and the Fed et al and the pegging of the currency to a basket of other currencies affect the Chinese government’s available tools and ability to manage their domestic monetary policy? Do some of the monetary policy decisions (interest rate rise or cut for example) migrate into China due to the pegging the Yuan to a basket?

Otherwise I really enjoyed the statistics emphasizing the irrationality of American sentiment to Chinese development when you look at the proportion of the US trade deficit that is attributed to trade with China and a few more stats he showed us. Fascinating!