Randomly Noted

The cynic in me says it’s blather from a rock star. The optimistic “Happy New Year” me says: What a delight! Have a look.

As we contemplate China’s continued economic ascent this New Year, let’s not forget what it means to do business in China. In July, four Rio Tinto employees were detained. The three Chinese citizens and one Australian, Stern Hu, remain in prison on vague charges of bribery and theft of commercial secrets. Life goes on for their colleagues; Rio Tinto and other international miners have begun a fresh round of iron ore price negotiations with China Inc. – while the four languish. One trusts Rio and the Australian government are still doing what they can, behind the scenes, to secure for the detainees a modicum of legal and procedural transparency – if not their complete release. The lesson of the Rio Tinto four is simple: If you do business in China and vex someone in power, your employees may be in jeopardy. It’s not unlike Russia, except, as I’ve blogged in the past, China is essential to many Western companies’ growth plans whereas the Economy of Putin can be avoided. As the 2010 iron ore talks heat up in coming weeks, we’ll keep an eye on how China comports itself and how the four Rio Tinto detainees – victims of last year’s aborted round – fare.

Earlier this year I blogged about the remarkable Sam Rainsy. I wrote that the head of Cambodia’s parliamentary opposition was enjoying relative political latitude in his motherland, and I described it as “tenuous.” It was tenuous, indeed, and now Rainsy has been forced into exile. By stripping him of immunity last month, Cambodia’s parliament has cleared the way for the filing of trumped-up charges. The allegations: uprooting six border posts along the demarcation line between Cambodia and Vietnam, according to AFP. It seems Cambodia’s ruling establishment still isn’t ready for the challenges and opportunities of a liberal democracy.