Commentary
Sometimes Chinese leader Xi Jinping seems determined to cut China off from western involvement and the technologies that have contributed to China’s economic miracle. The list of impediments to this important source of development is long. The latest addition is Beijing’s decision to require foreign firms in China to host communist party cells within their management structures and give those cells power to make business decisions. By adding to the list of burdens imposed on foreign investors Beijing seems to have decided, though no doubt inadvertently, to impose yet another impediment to the country’s economic prospects.
The list of development hurdles keeps growing. At the top is Beijing’s growing insistence on a more centralized direction of economics overall, an act that cannot help but stifle economic dynamism.  The list also includes Beijing’s reluctance to take steps to reduce China’s dependence on foreign buying by weaning the economy from its export focus. For more detail on these issues, see this discussion. Beijing has also taken steps to deny Chinese business the help of western financing sources, especially critical now that China faces a huge debt overhang of its own. For detail on this matter, see this article and this one. The latest rule requiring party cells just adds to the list….