The American Chamber of Commerce, the People’s Republic of China (AmCham-China) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai recently released “American Corporate Experience in a Changing China: Insights From AmCham Business Climate Surveys, 1999-2005.” Excerpts of the report follow:
　　Traditionally, China has used foreign investment to spur economic and technological development. Throughout the period of economic reform and opening up since 1979, China’s high savings rate, generally over 40 percent, has freed China from being overly dependent on foreign direct investment for funding.
　　The importance of foreign direct investment has been, first, to directly fund economically viable projects; second, to facilitate the transfer of management skills; third, to encourage technology transfer. From this perspective, foreign direct investment has been primarily for the purpose of upgrading whole industries that otherwise were operating far below global standards, transforming them into modern, advanced industries capable of generating sustainable employment over the long term.
　　China’s policies regarding where and how foreigners could invest in China have always supported its economic development goals. Initially, and particularly in the 1980s and 1990s, China required most companies to establish joint ventures with Chinese partners to ensure management skill transfers and a share in the profits for the Chinese side.
　　With the passage of time, it became obvious that both foreign and domestic companies in sectors that opened more rapidly to wholly foreign-owned enterprises performed better than those in relatively restricted sectors; competition turned out to be the best mentor. For their part, many foreign companies now have substantial operating experience in China and are prepared to compete without a local partner.
　　After [China’s] WTO accession, establishing a wholly foreign-owned enterprise became progressively easier in many sectors. In the early 2000s, China’s Central Government leadership began to emphasize and accelerate restructuring in the state sector, particularly in the Northeast China rust belt.
　　In 2002 and 2003, a wave of legislation made it easier for foreign companies to acquire Chinese companies or their assets. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the designated equity owner of most of China’s state assets, began to encourage foreign equity investment in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Between 2003 and 2004, inbound acquisitions increased from 10 percent to 30 percent of foreign direct investment.
　　Although the legal infrastructure governing foreign acquisitions of domestic assets in China has improved substantially, companies seeking to acquire and restructure SOEs nevertheless continue to face challenges in negotiating and executing specific deals (for example, lack of transparency, difficulty in conducting due diligence, and wide discrepancies between government and third-party valuations).
　　In addition, many of the companies that are offered as investment targets are not strong performers and often come with hidden liabilities. Unlike in the 1980s and 1990s, however, when companies were forced into joint ventures, today’s investors have a range of options, such as simply acquiring a company’s assets.
　　The huge inflow of foreign direct investment into China since WTO accession reflects not only China’s large and continued economic growth, but also a significant increase in market accessibility. Before China’s entry into the WTO, market access restrictions were recognized as a top barrier to profitability.
　　In addition to opening its market, China has granted foreign investors full access to many of its key competitive advantages: low cost, high quality, reliable labor force, stable exchange rate and robust supply chain logistics and infrastructure. China’s implementation of WTO commitments during the transition period has enabled American companies in China to enjoy a sustained increase in revenues and profitability and a more open market. It is not surprising that confidence in the Central Government’s willingness and ability to implement WTO accession commitments is increasing.
　　China’s financial stability has been an important factor in attracting foreign investment. From the time it began opening its market to foreign investors in the 1980s, China has carefully managed its foreign exchange reserves and current account with the objective of avoiding excessive foreign currency debt that might lead to an emerging market debt crisis such as experienced by some Latin American and some Asian sovereign borrowers. Capital controls were tight. All foreign debt was approved, registered and tracked. Individual enterprises were required to balance imports and exports. Taken together, these measures posed a significant challenge for foreign-invested enterprises that wished to produce for the domestic market, rather than for export markets.
　　China’s capital controls have evolved as its economy has developed: The focus has shifted from encouraging accumulation of foreign currency to preventing irregular inflows and in some cases encouraging outflows. In recent years, Chinese companies have been allowed to retain more of their foreign currency and some companies are being encouraged to invest overseas. Finally, the exchange rate regime itself has shifted from a narrow U.S. dollar peg to a peg against a basket of currencies within a wider trading band. Although the initial appreciation of the yuan was modest, the systemic change is important. It is reasonable to expect the trend toward a more flexible, market-based system to continue, benefiting companies active in international trade and investment.
　　China’s leadership continues to take a pragmatic and flexible albeit cautious approach to its economic policy and the market. Overall survey results suggest, on the one hand, that while China still remains in many ways a difficult place to do business, the regulatory and operating environment continues to improve. On the other hand, market-based challenges such as management-level human resource constraints and increased competition have emerged, putting pressure on margins. While there is wide variation by industry and locality, these general trajectories of better market access, an improving legal and regulatory environment, and ever-stronger, market-based competition remain in place. They reflect consistent and deliberate policy decisions over a 25-year period.

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