It’s suddenly fashionable to look to China as an up-and-coming economic force, a trend that has drawn billions of dollars in foreign investment into an economy that only 25 years ago grudgingly began to move away from a Soviet-style, centrally planned system. In fits and starts, the autocratic leadership has gradually loosened commercial controls, but its unpredictability and protectionist trade policies meant a lot of risk to outside investors, many of whom over the years learned some costly lessons about the rather casual Chinese attitude toward contracts with outsiders.
Today, with its accession into the World Trade Organization and continuing efforts to strengthen its unevenly applied civil and commercial codes, China has seen unprecedented interest in business partnerships from outside its boundaries. So it came as little surprise when not long after Avic I Commercial Aircraft Company (ACAC) unveiled plans for the ARJ21 regional jet, a host of Western suppliers signed on, hoping to gain a foothold in the world’s fastest-growing economy, now second only to the U.S. in per-capita GDP as measured in purchasing power parity.
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