There are very many stories about doing business in
China – some exceptionally successful, others diabolical
failures. These include foreign companies entering into contracts
with Chinese companies that do not exist or the joint venture
partner who was a "friend" that appropriates all the
assets; unknowingly the joint venture was setup in a way to leave
the foreign company with no legal recourse.
Our experience is that what makes these disaster stories worse
is that they are usually easily avoidable. Whilst some fear that
the enforcement of legal rights in China is somewhat of a hopeless
endeavour, our experience is that in reality obtaining a just
result is very achievable.
Problems generally occur where, in order to minimise costs or in
an attempt to get a deal done quickly in a foreign language,
foreign parties fail to seek appropriate representation –
too much reliance is placed on people that the foreign parties
know. Local legal representation is appropriate
