China promised to open up its financial industry under the pressure of the ongoing trade war. But the industry was not right away impressed: they had heard this song often enough. Financial analyst Sara Hsu looks at how China is keeping its promises this time and says the country is still underdelivering, she writes in China Focus.Read More →

Protecting intellectual property is a main issue for foreign companies in China, and William Bao Bean, managing director of the Chinaccelator in Shanghai gives a few tips on how to avoid problems. First, run faster and execute better than your competitors, so they have no time to copy your IP. And, second, split up your intellectual property is several pieces, so there is not one key to your intellectual castle, he explains at China Canvas.Read More →

Despite desperate efforts by the government to push the events of June 4, 1989, at Tiananmen Square into collective amnesia, new documents have shed light on the events. Journalist Ian Johnson reviews the latest publication, The Last Secret: The Final Documents from the June Fourth Crackdown, for the NY Review of Books, and summarize what we have been learning over the past 30 years.Read More →

Devaluating the Yuan and dumping US treasuries regular pop up as ‘nuclear options’ China has in its trade war with the US. Financial and political analyst Victor Shih explains why that might be a wrong idea. “These options are not credible, because they conflict with other important policy objectives of China,” he writes at the China File.Read More →

China has been checking its weaponry for the ongoing trade war and stopping the export of rare earths has been one of them. But China will have to be very selective in using this weapon, otherwise it might hurt itself more than the US, says economist Arthur Kroeber, according to CBS.Read More →

Major industries like travel, retail, automotive, telecom and others see their traditional business models changing very fast. At Shanghai-based SOSV managing director William Bao Bean helps startups to make money in new ways, based on data, and capture fast emerging markets, he tells at the Phocuswright Europe conference in Amsterdam last week. Companies should not cling to melting margins, but identify where money can be made, he argues.Read More →

Ctrip is one of China’s successful travel companies, but for most startups, it is a tough market to crack, said William Bao Bean, managing director of the Shanghai-based China Accelerator, last week at a travel conference in Amsterdam, according to Phocuswire.com. Bean did identify some potential success stories, though.Read More →

China’s leadership is still trying to figure out how to deal with US president Donald Trump. Making sense out of Trump has been harder than expected, says political analyst Victor Shih, author of Factions and Finance in China. in an extensive interview in the New Yorker.Read More →