Fenqing distance China from the real thing
Fenqing see red
no longer engaged
Yahoo report that China’s nationalist lobby have successfully blocked Coke’s acquisition of Chinese juice producer Huiyuan:
BEIJING (AP) — China has rejected Coca-Cola Co.’s $2.5 billion bid to buy a major Chinese juice producer, the Commerce Ministry announced Wednesday, in a closely watched case that stirred nationalist opposition.
The purchase of Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. would have been the biggest foreign acquisition of a Chinese company to date.
Huiyuan’s founders and major shareholders already had endorsed the sale.
Coca-Cola’s bid in September prompted an outcry by nationalists who urged the government to bar foreigners from acquiring one of China’s most successful homegrown brands. Rival juice producers warned that the acquisition would give Coca-Cola too dominant a position in China’s beverage market.
A Coca-Cola spokesman in Hong Kong learned of the rejection from a reporter and had no immediate comment.
It seems that it matters little how you define ’fenqing’, once they smell foreign blood on Chinese soil they get mobilised in a hurry. So who’s puppet and who’s master in China right now; CCP or fenqing? I’m beginning to wonder.
Let’s see how many pick up the scent this time.
Update
The Economist has followed Foundinchina’s lead and they’ve done it very well:
China indicates the real targets of its anti-monopoly law: outsiders
LAST August, after 14 years of debate, the Chinese government at last imposed what was informally referred to as its “economic constitution”, a broad anti-monopoly law for a country rife with state-imposed monopolies. In the subsequent months, people have wondered how the law would be applied, and whether it would advance China’s transformation into a market economy, or serve as an impediment to genuine competition. On Wednesday March 18th an answer emerged with the rejection of the largest outright acquisition by a foreign company, a $2.4 billion offer by Coca-Cola for China Huiyuan, the country’s largest juice company.
I recommend reading the whole article. The Economist go on to point out the alarming indicators of non-reciprocity and the way in which China seems to using the new monopoly laws for the purposes of ‘getting their own back’ when a decision or comment from overseas doesn’t ring to the CCP tune.
So, in this instance, the fenqing are the governments puppets, providing China’s leaders with a ‘national outcry’ excuse for what amounts to a protectionist law that targets foreign enterprises. Nice.
Update 2
Having commented on the bid previously, I guessed that David Wolf over at the excellent (I mean really excellent) Silicon Hutong would weigh in on the story. He’s done so, and with the kind of intelligence, experience, and measured response many feel that this site lacks. Go there now.