According to a dispatch from Beijing that the Taipei-based Central News Agency (CNA) published on August 24, executives from over a dozen major European companies in China met in Beijing last month to discuss the growing role the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) plays in foreign companies.
CNA cited reports from Reuters, among other news agencies, that people familiar with the discussion were concerned about President Xi Jinping’s emphasis on the CCP’s role in Chinese society, which has impacted the China operations of foreign companies.
China Daily, China’s official English-language newspaper, reported last month that it is a fact that CCP organizations have been established within companies in China. According to China Daily, out of 1.86 million privately owned companies, over 70 percent have a CCP branch unit in them.
Until recently, many foreign executives have regarded such an arrangement as symbolic. However, one executive who participated in last month’s discussion revealed that (the party) has exerted political pressure on some companies to give CCP representatives in the joint ventures the final say over business operations.
The executive said the company’s Chinese partner was pushing to change the terms of the joint venture to bring CCP personnel into management, to include the CCP organization’s overhead expenses in the company budget, and for the CCP secretary be named chairman of the board.
Source:
Central News Agency, August 24, 2017
http://www.cna.com.tw/news/afe/201708240405-1.aspx