Chen Guangcheng
Under the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) there is no rule of law. Executives of foreign corporations and investment firms that invest in China must know this fact. Yet so many have taken the risk, enticed by profits and confident they can stay in the good graces of the ruling dictatorship. But how safe are investments in China? At what point will foreign corporate leaders realize they have fallen into a trap?
That trap is the shifting landscape of Chinese policy and law, which the CCP manipulates to ensnare unsuspecting enterprises. Though domestic companies frequently fall prey, corporations from outside that are used to operating under the protective umbrella of a commonly understood legal playbook are particularly vulnerable.
Unlike in the U.S. and other societies governed by the rule of law and independent judiciaries, the CCP has long relied on a combination of policy and laws to maintain control of the nation and ensure its privileged position of power. The party can arbitrarily decide when policy follows the law, or when the law follows policy, according to its needs. When it wants to have policy as the presiding force, the law will be nothing more than scrap paper. But when the party wants to punish opponents or stifle foreign companies, it will pull out every crime on its books to repress dissent while painting an appearance of legality over what is in fact wanton repression—or outright theft.
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