Episode #94, Why is China the way it is, what’s happened, and how is China interacting with the rest of the world from a startup & VC perspective? Jonathan Bench, a China expert, practicing lawyer in the region, and active for over 20 years in the market, discusses with Andrew Romans on Fireside with a VC:

• What led up to the decoupling with China and how North American, European and Japanese companies will continue to do business with China?

• What led up to the current situation on a timeline of developments and ultimately Covid?

• The 5x+ increase in shipping costs and the impact of factory shutdowns in China during Covid on western minds for the future relationship with China.

• Supply chain establishment, management and support in China plus Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Mexico and western efforts to diversify and challenges to get out of China.

• How China is buying land and establishing factories in Mexico and how China is everywhere globally?

• How Chinese entrepreneurs are forced to operate within the communist party system and how to establish legitimacy with the rest of the outside world.

• Growth of the legal system in China with US companies now winning in the Chinese legal system which points to the growing legitimacy of the evolving Chinese legal system.

• Examples of Chinese companies trying to play by the rules and achieve legitimacy.

• The different cultural concepts of a signed contract being a final agreement or a stepping stone to an ongoing relationship where key terms are continuously changed

• What are the opportunities for the west to do business in China?

Find this and all full episodes for Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC.

Find this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZtTrik6517E.

Pix from Andrew Romans’ trips to China: https://photos.app.goo.gl/eSxTKBLnJNpBcKvu6.

Andrew Romans’ books published in Chinese:

The Entrepreneurial Bible to Venture Capital (Chinese Edition): https://rb.gy/mwxp1p

Masters of Corporate Venture Capital (Chinese Edition): https://shorturl.at/dgwBJ

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benchjonathan/

https://harris-sliwoski.com/our-team/jonathan-bench/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/

https://www.7bc.vc/

Join the conversation, leave comments, and tell us what you think about these topics and this episode.

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