Politics and Business in the far east

Recently we were graced with pictures of our Prime Minister visiting China and India with a coterie of business advisers, journalists and Richard Branson. He spoke about new trade links, historical ties and that Britain should grasp the new and exciting opportunities available to her in the far east. We do seem to have got into the arena of politics of the obvious. Tony Blair told us that he always did what he thought was the right thing to do and Gordon Brown said that he would always do his best (forgive me, this is the very least that I’d expect any of us to do) or perhaps I’m out of touch.

The visit to the new economic superpowers reminded me of a conversation I had with a very close friend of mine. We spoke about China in particular and he recounted a recent lecture that he’d attended. China at the moment is on best behaviour. She is anxious for the Olympic games to be a success. The eyes of the World will be on Beijing this summer and the authorities will not wish this great sporting spectacle to be blighted by any controversy. After the games it may be different matter and the sleeping giant may decide to stretch out those powerful limbs and flex some financial/political muscle. When he was chancellor the Prime Minister spoke about the plight of Africa and debt relief, maintaining that as Prime Minister he would make addressing Africa’s problems a central pillar of foreign policy. In the midst of this grandiose chatter, China is slowly but surely colonising the African continent, hoovering up resources and doing deals with Governments. I doubt that the Prime Minister highlighted this issue on his visit.

Herein lies the problem. Gordon Brown appears to patently out of his depth when dealing with the Chinese and Indian administrations. If you’re not convinced take a look back at the Rover story which broke during the last election. The Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC)  pulled the plug on Rover just as the government was at it’s most precarious ( during the election). The Prime Minister, the Chancellor and particularly the Trade & Industry Secretary at the time (Patricia Hewitt) were outflanked and made to look naive at best. SAIC chose the moment to strike, negotiated from a position of strength, got what it wanted and moved on. I’ve been involved with real estate transactions on the subcontinent and it’s nothing to get personal about. You just have to understand that business and Politics in China/India are played hardball and that any leverage your opponents have over you will be exploited. I may again be stating the obvious, but until you actually experience the negotiations, involve yourself in the horse trading, you are unprepared for this arena.

It’s often said that far too many people aspire for political office with no business experience, or any experience of real life if truth be told. I’ll let other people judge that but as the Rover story quite aptly illustrates, a lack of business acumen, not understanding different cultural attitudes and poor judgement has costs us jobs and continues to harm the prosperity of the West Midlands.

 Paul