bluecollar:  " the diaplomat has article about lawyers in china not needing to keep your secrets"

Yup, bluecollar, and it is even more involved than that.  Companies in China are compelled by new Chinese laws to report information back to the Chinese government and can be punished if they fail to do so.

A January 2022 article in the Harvard Business Review had this cautionary statement about navigating the problems of doing business in China:

"Doing business in China ethically is likely to get harder and harder going forward given Xi Jinping’s expanding mandate and agenda. Executives should utilize the five principles above and remember, as George Magnus, former chief economist at UBS, writes, “As a more restrictive regulatory and governance system is brought to bear on everything from Chinese schools and universities to companies, media and entertainment, and often abruptly and without recourse to appeal, investors in Chinese assets will have to weigh the risks more carefully.”

All of this suggests that the narrative on China ought to change among executives. Too many companies are operating as if it is still 2005 — as if the market was full of rich pickings, the government was increasing people’s freedoms, and doing business in the country did not pose so many moral questions."

https://hbr.org/2022/01/how-to-navigate-the-ethical-risks-of-doing-business-in-china

Biased against China? The Harvard Business Review?  Well, that is an interesting question.  Certainly "The Federalist" has a bias along those lines, but that doesn't mean that everything published in that journal is not worthy of consideration on its own merits.  For example, from a 16 June 2021 article in "The Federalist":

"All of this demonstrates once again just how little most foreign companies understand the true nature of the CCP. The party always demands total control and values loyalty more than anything else. Dealing with the party is like bargaining with a devil. Unfortunately, of course, the devil will eventually ask for your soul.

Once foreign companies become addicted to the financial lure of the great Chinese market, the party compels them to choose between breaking the laws of their home countries in exchange for market access and profit or subjecting their operations and people in China to grave danger."

Anti-Chinese propaganda?  Possibly, but a review of the whole article at a minimum raises some serious questions about the psychological Tug of War imposed upon any Western business doing business in China.  A link to the entire article follows:

https://thefederalist.com/2021/06/16/china-quickly-passes-new-law-hoovering-up-private-data-that-could-include-yours/

Okiedo