China exerting growing pressure on foreign companies, study finds
Reuters
BERLIN, Aug 24 (Reuters) – China is exerting increasing pressure on foreign companies doing business in its markets to bring them into line with its political agenda, broadening the “red lines” for issues to which it is allergic, a German study seen by Reuters shows.
A survey of more than 100 companies by the Berlin-based Merics think tank for China studies and the BDI industry association showed that the threshhold for exerting pressure on companies is falling. The number of known cases rose significantly from 2018, it found.
Mainland China expanded its trade suspensions on Taiwan to include natural sand and additional agriculture products in the latest retaliation to the highly controversial visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the self-ruled island.
H&M, Nike and other big Western apparel brands are facing a boycott in China because of the stand they’ve taken against the alleged use of forced labor to produce cotton in the country’s western region of Xinjiang.