Impact of the China Party Congress
Monday, October 22nd, 2007Today we’re discussing a topic we purposefully avoid on the China Business Podcast: Chinese politics. I’ve had some time to reflect on the China Party Congress itself and the impact it’s likely to have on the business environment here in China.
The party congress is held about once every five years in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In addition to making leadership changes, the congress also considers and makes changes to the party’s constitution. For business, the bottom line is that nothing done in this congress will profoundly affect the juggernaut that is the Chinese economy. Political changes can nudge the economy one direction or another, but for the billions of people in China, life will go on much as it did before.
So while it’s interesting, informative and thought-provoking to follow the news coming out of Beijing, it’s not going to make or break whatever potential China holds for your company. For your own business, pay even closer attention to what’s happening on the ground because it’s the people in China who will tell you — through what they do, how they act and what they buy — what the China Party Congress really means.